


Rory Leigh

by Opy3332



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, LMLD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 19:05:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 34,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2240031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opy3332/pseuds/Opy3332
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU of what happens when 23 year old Rory Gilmore-Hayden graduates from Yale and moves to Stars Hollow. Who will meet who? Who will fall in love with whom? Rory/Luke</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Summary: AU. What happens when 23 year old Rory Gilmore-Hayden graduates from Yale and moves to Stars Hollow. Who will meet who? Who will fall in love with who?
> 
> Background (which you will get more in-depth information on throughout the story): Lorelai and Christopher did not marry. Lorelai and baby Rory lived in Emily and Richard’s pool house. Lorelai has a job and they moved out when Rory was 8 to a house close to Emily and Richard. Christopher stayed with them a lot. He was around more than in the show but was not a true live-in dad. Lorelai is happy but not truly happy. Rory is fairly similar to the character in the show.
> 
> AN: The first couple chapters will be a lot of introduction and background, building up the characters, etc. Much more dialogue and action later, I promise! Also, I might switch POV’s during the story, I’m not sure, but if I do, I’ll warn you!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls, it’s characters or it’s story lines. Gilmore Girls was created by Amy Sherman-Paladino and is owned by Dorothy Parker Drank Here and the WB/CW.
> 
> NOTE: This is a repost of my story from FF.net. It was written around 2004 (almost 10 years ago!) and I'm not sure it is my best work, but I'm working on moving everything over here so I guess here it is.

Chapter 1: Rory Leigh

Twenty three year old Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Hayden, Rory, smiled as she took in her surroundings. She stood in the center of the very first apartment she had ever rented with her own money. Granted, it was furnished largely by her grandparents, but she herself had placed the deposit and was going to be paying for it herself. At 23 she had managed to do what her mom, 40, had tried to do her whole life; get away from them.

Tomorrow, she, Rory Leigh, as she was now going by, would start her job. She was a simple reporter and section editor for the Stars Hollow Daily Gazette, a small time newspaper for an even smaller time town. Her grandparents had arranged lucrative positions for her elsewhere but she hadn't wanted that. She needed to start on her own, become someone separate from her parents and grandparents.

Her mother, Lorelai Gilmore II had Rory when she was 16 and became the scandal of the Hartford elite social circle. Both she and the father, Christopher Hayden, were from two of Hartford’s richest old money families.

Rory had grown up privileged. And, in order to prove to society that she was not a mistake, she and her mom and pushed herself to perfection. She was valedictorian of her private high school, Chilton, where she had been student body president and editor of the newspaper and had dated, neither too little nor too much, though never seriously. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale, where she was the editor of the Yale Daily News and had once again dated the correct amount, becoming serious once before breaking off prior to graduation.

She hated being perfect, practical and privileged—“the three P’s” as she had once confided to her mother. Shed had done it her whole life and was ready for a change. Now she didn’t want to get in trouble and go crazy, she just wanted to find out who she was, to be able to do things by herself and for herself. And if that meant small apartments and living paycheck to paycheck, so be it, she said to herself with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2: Rory’s First Morning

_Chapter 2: Rory’s First Morning_

 

It was late, almost midnight, and Rory was reading in bed. Her mind wasn’t on the book though, which was unusual for her. It was Thursday night and she didn’t have to report to work until Monday, so she was thinking of how to spend her first weekend ever without things to do. No homework, no family functions, no society functions—nothing. She figured she would explore the town and get to know important places; her office, take-out and restaurants (she had inherited her mother’s non-existent cooking skills), grocery store, book store and video store. She had no real plan, which made her smile as she drifted off to sleep.

She awoke to the sun streaming in her windows—she groaned, she hadn’t gotten curtains yet. She rolled over and looked at the clock—8:30. 8:30 on my first Saturday without plans! She groaned but got out of bed and headed to her coffee machine. Once she got it going she hurried to the bathroom and took a hot shower. Wrapping herself in a robe and brushing her hair, she hurried and gulped down her first mug of coffee—the elixir of life as her mother called it. Yet another thing she had inherited from her mother—coffee dependency. She poured herself another glass and headed into her bedroom. She had unpacked most things the day before after the movers had delivered everything. Both her mother and her grandparents had wanted to come, but she’d held them off and said maybe in a few weeks; she had wanted to get settled first.

She headed straight to her closet and dresser and pulled out a casual skirt and shirt. It was late August and still fairly warm, typical Connecticut weather. She finished her second cup of coffee and quickly finished drying and brushing her hair. It was long, longer than she had ever had it, though reaching only about an inch below her shoulder blades. She liked it. She had grown out her bangs last year and was glad with the decision. She was happy with the way she looked, knew she wasn’t a supermodel but still felt confident. It was the eyes, the Gilmore Girls blue eyes that she had inherited from her mom. ‘Always use the eyes’ her mother had told her once, she knew her mom had used them more than a few times to get what she wanted.

Grabbing her purse, keys and sunglasses she headed out the door. ‘This is it’ she thought to herself. She headed down the stairs and out into the sunshine.

Her apartment was on Blossom Drive, a name which made her laugh and cringe at the same time. She turned right out of her apartment building and then shortly made another right and was headed towards the town square.

Stars Hollow really was one of those towns that had a town square. She decided she was probably going to like it here; it seemed quaint when she had driven through yesterday morning. Not much to it, but that made her happy.

The air was beautiful, it was a bit cooler today than it had been in the previous days and it made fall seem just a bit closer. She took in every storefront and building as she walked by; a church, a barn that read ‘Miss Patty’s Dance’, ‘Doose’s Market’ (Rory groaned—she guessed that Doose was one in the same with Mr. Taylor Doose, her landlord) and a confusing building that read both ‘William’s Hardware’ and ‘Luke’s Diner’. She looked inside and saw people eating at tables and assumed the latter was correct.

She glanced at her watch—only 10:15, too early for lunch. She kept walking. She walked past the bookstore and willed herself not to go in quite yet, and then, about a block later, found the office building for the Stars Hollow Daily Gazette. Looking at it a few minutes, she smiled to herself, excited about her new start, and then headed across the street and back the way she had come. ‘Al’s Pancake World’ (‘Yay—a breakfast spot!’ She thought to herself) was the first place she passed and then ‘Joe’s Pizza’. She had found most everything she was looking for, except the movie store. And then there it was—almost right in front of her. The benefits of a small town were making themselves evident.

She sighed and headed towards the town square. She plopped herself on a bench beside the gazebo and puller her book out of her oversized purse. She began to read. 


	3. Chapter 3: First Encounters

_Chapter 3: First Encounters_

 

Her stomach grumbling was the thing that finally shook her out of her concentration. Looking at her watch she gasped, it was 12:30 already. No wonder she was hungry, she had skipped breakfast that morning, not having any food yet in her apartment. Standing up from her position she stretched and, for the first time, noticed the large banner strung from the gazebo. ‘Annual Firelight Festival’ it read…hmmm… she thought to herself, sounds interesting.

Deciding to head over to the diner for lunch she picked up her things and started walking. That was when she first noticed it. People were watching her. A few just glancing sideways, a few all-out staring. There were two women, actually inside the diner, who were staring at her and whispering. She fought the urge to be embarrassed and held her head up as she pushed the door to the diner open. There was only one table open and it was next to the whispering women, so Rory opted to sit at the counter. She sat down heavily and put her things on the counter next to her.

A man in a flannel shirt and backwards baseball hat came out from the back. He approached her without really looking.

“What can I get you?” he asked quickly.

“Coffee!” She replied, “In the biggest mug you’ve got!”

He looked up at her, “You do know that stuff’ll kill you, don’t you?”

“Hey, we all go to go some way, I’d be proud to have it caused by such a wonderful drink,”

 “Yeah,” he said with a smirk, “some people would say that about booze, too”

She laughed.

“Anything else for ya?”

“Can I see a menu?” She asked, hesitatingly.

“You are new, I thought so, or else you’re a tourist, though you don’t look too much like a tourist, plus you’re alone….anyways, I’m babbling” he said as he handed her a worn menu.

“I am new, how’d you know?” She asked with a small smile.

“No one asks for menus unless they’ve never been here,” he said simply.

“Oh, well, I’ll have a cheese burger and onion rings, and keep the coffee coming,” she said after a quick glance at the menu just before she pulled her book back out. Just then her cell phone rang. She went to answer it but the flannel-clad man pointed to a ‘No Cell Phones Allowed’ sign and pointed to the door. She hurried outside as she said hello.

“Fruit of my loins!” Her mother yelled into the phone.

“Mom?”

“Of course, who else would call you that?”

“No other sane person, that’s for sure,” she said with a giggle.

“So how are you? How’s the boondocks treating you?”

“I’m good mom. I like it so far, though haven’t seen too much yet.”

“I miss you already!” Lorelai whined suddenly, “Why can’t I come visit you?”

“Soon, mom, I just want to get settled. But I just ordered some food at a diner so I’ve got to get back. I’ll talk to you later?” She asked

“Ohh, a diner—‘how rustic’ Emily would say! Of course I’ll talk to you later. Love you, kid.”

“Love you, too, mom.”

She hung up the phone and went back inside. The man was bring her food out just when she sat back down.

“Oh! Perfect timing,” she said.

“Sorry about the phone, it’s the rules,” he said

“That’s ok. It was just my mom. As if we don’t talk enough already,” she said with a laugh and a wave of her hand, “I’m Rory by the way.”

“Oh,” he looked flustered and confused, “Luke. That’s me.”

“Cool, as in Luke’s Diner?” he responded with a slight nod, “So, anyway,” she began again, “you know much about this town? Can you fill me in?”

“Well, I guess so, I’ve lived here my whole life. There’s not much to it. It’s dumb and crazy and half the people belong in a loony bin, but besides that, I guess it’s home,” he said with a strange shake of his head.

 “Hmm… sounds like you love it,” she said with dry sarcasm.

“I wouldn’t live anywhere else for some damn strange reason,” he said.

“Wouldn’t have anything to do with the William in ‘William’s Hardware’ would it?” she asked, in investigative mode.

He stopped dead in his tracks, halfway to pouring her coffee refill.

“Wh-What?” he stuttered as he looked at her.

The color drained from her face. “Oh my god, I am so, so sorry. I shouldn’t have, I mean, it wasn’t my place to… gosh I am just so sorry.” Her face was flushed a crimson color. She reached into her purse, pulled out a wad of money, threw it on the counter and ran out of the diner.


	4. Chapter 4: Second Encounters and Apologies

_Chapter 4: Second Encounters and Apologies_

    She ran as fast as she could back to her apartment, which was saying something, because she was a Gilmore Girl and Gilmore Girls didn’t run; it was one of their rules. Once inside the apartment she finally stopped to take a breath.

    ‘Great, Gilmore, you and your big mouth, insulting the first person you talk to in this stupid town, what an impression.’

    She sighed and sat down on the couch, staring off into space. She hadn’t gotten her TV hooked up yet, and wasn’t sure if she know how, so watching it was out of the question. She felt too antsy to read. She sat for a few more minutes before jumping up. Moving a few things around she decided to put away the few things that were left to unpack and start organizing her books.

    Four hours later she stopped what she was doing and sat down. She was tired and hungry, she hadn’t finished her lunch at the diner and it had been an emotionally tiring day. ‘Just too much going on’ she said to herself, ‘You and your big mouth’.

    It was after five and she knew she had no food in the apartment. This also meant she knew she had to leave again and that the market was practically next door to the ill-fated diner. She swallowed her pride, ‘You can do this, Gilmore. You’re a reporter, suck it up. Besides, who says you’ll even see him, just keep your eyes on the target.’

    She liked giving herself pep talks, though she only tended to do it when she really needed the kick, and this time certainly warranted it she felt. Grabbing her keys and purse, she once again set out from her apartment.

    It was a Friday night and Stars Hollow was starting to come alive. That still didn’t mean much, at least compared to what Rory was used to at Yale, but she saw more people than she had before. A few couples walking hand in hand, kids running about. No one seemed to notice or mind that there were children running around unsupervised.

    ‘Well, I’m not about to be the one to bring it up,’ she thought, ‘I’ve caused enough trouble already’.

    She silently continued her trek to the market, hoping that Taylor Doose wasn’t there, she just knew he would talk to her and she was not in the mood. She tried to sneak in quietly. She grabbed a basket and hurried off to a back aisle. She was milling around, pretending to look at the bread, but mostly trying to spot Taylor, when she felt a presence behind her. Sure enough, someone spoke up.

    “Hey listen,” a quiet, yet gruff voice said, “You left a bit too much money earlier, why don’t you come back and I think it’ll cover dinner for you.”

    She spun around and couldn’t believe it.

    “Luke,” she half questioned, half whispered.

    “Yeah,” he said quietly, “Listen, I’m not much of a talker or one to apologize, but I was just a bit shocked earlier. It would be nice if you could come back sometime, Rory.”

    She looked down at her shoes, than back up, looking him in the eye, “Yeah, I’ve got to get a few things, I have no food whatsoever in the apartment, but I’ll stop by in a bit for dinner, that sounds nice. Thank you.”

    “You’re welcome, Rory. See you soon.”

    She watched him walk away, still surprised, ‘Maybe this place won’t be so bad after all,’ she thought to herself as she smiled.


	5. Chapter 5: More apologies, Gossip, and Festival Invites

_Chapter 5: More apologies, Gossip, and Festival Invites_

            She hurriedly grabbed what she could; milk, eggs, orange juice, bread, peanut butter, jelly pop tarts, some more coffee and a few frozen dinners. She hustled up to the register and was relieved not to see Taylor there. She paid for her things and carried them back to her apartment.

            After putting her groceries away and freshening up her makeup (while thinking ‘why do I care how good I look? He’s too old for you, he’s got to be at least 35....I guess that’s not _that_ much older….’) she, for the third time that day, grabbed her keys and purse and headed out the door.

            ‘I’m going to have to get used to all this exercise with this flight of stairs,’ she thought to herself, ‘Oh well, I guess it couldn’t be bad for me, even if mom would disagree.’

            She slowed down her pace as she crossed the town square. It was just barely seven and the diner still looked pretty busy. The two “whispering women” as she had dubbed them were back again, at a different table, and with a man in their company. She quickly walked up to the counter and sat at the same stool as before. She had been perusing a menu left at the counter for a few minutes when she noticed Luke coming out from the kitchen. He was holding three plates and carried them to a table. He looked upset about something. He gave the customers their plates and turned back towards the counter. He saw me watching him and his face seemed to relax just a bit.

          Coming over he asked, “Know what you want yet? Same as before or want to try something new? Whatever it is, it’s on the house.”

         “Are you sure?” She asked shyly.

         “Of course, you left enough money earlier to cover it, don’t worry,” he looked behind him, “Shit, they heard it all.”

         She looked where he was looking, “Who heard all what?”

          He pointed at the two “whispering women”, “Those are the two biggest gossips in all of Stars Hollow, probably in all of Connecticut, and they just hear what I said, they’ll probably be starting all kinds of rumors before you’re food even gets to you,” He shot them a glare that seemed to say ‘shut up’ and ‘I could care less’ at the same time.

         “Is that bad?” She asked

         “Well, if you like a nice quiet life, then yes, if not, then I guess it’s a great thing,” he said with another glare, “Oh, here they come now, I’ll leave you to them, what do you want and I’ll put your order in?”

         “I’ll take another cheese burger and chili fries if you can do that,” she asked with a sweet smile and just a hint of the pout her mother and taught her.

         He looked like he was going to hesitate for a second, but then caught sight of the two women and said, “Yeah, sure, it’ll just be a few minutes.”

         “Thanks,” she said and looked back down at the counter top. She knew it would only be a few seconds before the women reached her.

         And sure enough, almost on cue, “Well hello darling, you don’t mind if we join you for a moment, do you?” The larger of the two women asked her.

         “Well, I guess not”

         “I’m Babette, sugar, and this here is Miss Patty,” the shorter and, slightly, skinnier one said.

         “As in Miss Patty’s Dance?” I asked, slightly surprised.

         “Oh yeah, honey, you’ll have to hear my stories….” She trailed off with a giggle, “Anyway, are you new here? You seemed to know Luke….?” Again she trailed off, though this time with a suggestive look on her face as opposed to a giggle.

         “I just moved into town yesterday. You can call me Rory.”

         “Oh, you’re the new reporter gal, aren’t you?” Asked Babette, excitedly.

         “Yep, that’s me.”

         “So how do you know Luke? If I may ask…” Miss Patty continued.

         “Well, I came in here for lunch today, just met him then,” I said honestly.

         “So how come you left so much money, was the “service” that good??” Miss Patty asked, with yet another suggestive look.

         I then noticed Luke was watching us so I decided to play along, “I guess that will just have to be a little secret between Luke and me wont it?” I asked with a smile, “Anyway, I’m just learning the town before I have to start work on Monday.”

         “Ah, well, sugar, you got to come to the festival tomorrow night than, everyone will be there,” Babette interrupts energetically.

         “Yeah, well, maybe I’ll see you there… Oh look! My foods here.” She exclaimed, and then, whispered to Luke, “you’re my savior.”

         He blushed slightly and smiled at her, “You really shouldn’t ever play into their games, it only gives them more stuff to work off of.”

         “Oh well, I don’t mind. I guess it does involve you though, sorry,” she said with a smile that meant she really wasn’t.

         He wondered off to check on his other customers and she started in on her food. Forty five minutes later she was still working on the remains of it, and her third cup of coffee. The diner was slowing down and Luke was cleaning the counter near Rory.

         “Can I get another refill?” She asked as she started to take the last bite of her burger.

         “You really shouldn’t be drinking that stuff at night, at least let me give you decaf.”

         “Ughh… are you kidding me? Decaf is awful, doesn’t even deserve to be considered a coffee. Besides, the caffeine never affects me,” she said assuredly.

         He looked at her like he was still going to say no, she pulled out the eyes and the pout.

         “All right, fine, but this is the last cup I am pouring you.”

         “Fine, but in exchange, you have to sit and talk to me for a few minutes.” She said. She couldn’t believe she was being so outgoing, this wasn’t like her, she was practically flirting with this guy that she hardly knew and who was at least 15 years older than her.

         He almost looked stunned for a second before glancing around the diner.

         “Oh come on,” she begged, “there’s only one other table, you can take a little break, can’t you?” She whined, breaking out the full-on pout.

         He sighed and sat down next to her.

         “So,” she started nervously, “I wanted to apologize for earlier, I spoke a little too early and a little too bluntly, I’m sorry if I hurt or offended you.”

         He looked at her and then looked away sadly, “No, it’s okay. It’s just that most people around here, they know the story so they don’t ask, they know not to ask. William was my dad.”

         She smiled, “And we’ll leave it at that. So, tell me something else about yourself.”

         Something about her made him feel open, “Well, not too much to tell, I told you I’ve lived here my whole life. Run this diner, spend most of my time here, I live in upstairs. I hate Taylor Doose.”

         “Wow, I think we might have something in common,” she exclaimed, “Taylor is my landlord. I swear there is something wrong with that man.”

         He laughed, “Finally someone who is on my side. So, you live in one of Taylor’s apartments... tell me something else.”

         “Well, I just moved in yesterday. I’m a journalist; I’m starting work at the Stars Hollow Daily Gazette on Monday. I’m originally from Hartford, graduated from Yale a few months ago. That sums it up pretty much.”

         “Wow, Yale, that’s big. Must have been exciting.”

         “Yeah, I don’t really feel like talking about Hartford or Yale, I’m trying to start new here. Speaking of, what can you tell me about this little festival tomorrow night?”

         “Aw, jeez,” he groaned. “This town is crazy, stupid festivals every stupid month and the crazy people participating in them like you can’t believe. I don’t know why no one from the loony bin has come to take everyone away yet.”

         “Wow, um okay, I take it you’re not a big fan of the festival?” She asked sarcastically.

         “Not really. I mean this one is to celebrate the founding of the town, but its just some dumb cheesy romance story that ended badly, just like Romeo and Juliet.”

         “Oh really? That sounds kind of cool. What goes on at the festival?"

         “It’s pretty much like a carnival; games, food, more food, music, booths, stories.”

         “Hmm… it sounds kind of fun. But you aren’t going?” She asked dejectedly.

         “No, I never go,” he replied curtly.

         “So you wouldn’t even go if I asked you to go with me?” She asked cutely.


	6. Chapter 6: Answers and Bookstores

_Chapter 6: Answers and Bookstores_

 

He looked at her, stunned, “You’re asking me to go with you?” He choked out.

Suddenly she was nervous, “Well, I mean, um, I’m new here and I don’t know anyone except for you, and well Miss Patty and Babette, but I was just thinking that it would be nice to go and meet people and, you know, to not have to go alone. Anyway, it was dumb, forget I said anything,” she mumbled.

“No, it’s okay. I just usually don’t like to go to those silly things. But I’ll tell you what, you can go and have fun and meet people, and when you get bored and want to commit everyone, I’ll be in here and you can come get some coffee.”

“Oh, ok. That does sound nice, thanks. Anyway, I should get going, get a little more settled in and unpacked you know?” She said with a grin.

“Sure,” he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asked, casually.

“Oh yeah, at least once for sure, I inherited my mother’s lack of cooking skills,” she said with a giggle. And with that she left the diner.

Thinking of her mother, she pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial.

“Hello,” her mother answered the phone, breathless.

“Eww, mom, is dad there?” She asked.

“No, hon, why would you think that?”  


“Because it sounds like I interrupted you doing something dirty,” Rory said with a laugh.

“Oh well…”Lorelai trailed off.

“Eww… Mom! I did, didn’t I? Well at least it’s not dad, I was thinking that ship had sailed.”

“Definitely has,” she said with a giggle, “hey, how about I call you in the morning?”

“Sure, not too early, and keep the details PG!”

“Sweetie, you’re 23 now, you should be out finding out about the PG-13 and the R now, ok?”

“I’m working on it mom, don’t worry about me. I’ll talk to you in the morning. Love you.”

“Love you, too, kid.”

She flipped her phone shut and walked the remaining few blocks home quietly and quickly. It was barely nine o’clock and she wasn’t tired yet. Still not TV to watch; she skimmed her fingers along the spines of her books not knowing what she felt like reading, and not really caring. She grabbed one at random and sat back in the couch. She opened it up and began skimming the pages.

Half an hour later she had made little progress and could barely remember a word she had read. ‘Was her mom right? Was she boring? Was she missing out on life?’ She had done it the right way in high school and college, a few boyfriends here, a few dates there, she’d even lost her virginity to her one semi-long term boyfriend in college—but it felt empty now, she felt childish. Maybe she could start something here, maybe….Her thoughts drifted to Luke. He was different, a bit gruff, definitely “rustic” in Emily Gilmore’s world, but he had been nice to her and listened and they had chatted. He wasn’t gorgeous, but he had a sort of passionate appeal. ‘Sure, he was a bit older than her’, she thought, ‘but maybe it was time to start living.’ She smiled as she continued to think about him as she drifted off to sleep on the couch.

 

Waking up Rory felt stiff and uncomfortable. As she stretched out her limbs, she realized why; she had slept on the couch. She groaned; she was hearing a faint noise coming from the floor. As she rummaged around with her hand, her eyes still closed, she recognized it as her cell phone.

“Hello,” she groggily answered.

“Fruit of my loins! It sounds like I got you in the aftermath of doing something dirty—Am I right?!” Lorelai greeted loudly.

“What mom, no! I just—you woke me up and I slept on the couch so am extremely stiff.”

“I woke you up, wow, Gilmore, you’re learning how to sleep in again. It’s 11:30, I’m proud.”

“Gee thanks mom,” she replied as she headed over to start her coffee. “So what brings you awake on this lovely morning?”

“Oh not much, I was just sitting around, thinking how much I missed my lovely daughter, wishing I could see her but decided I would have to settle for hearing her voice.”

“Aw, mom, that’s so sweet,” Rory replied sarcastically, “so what are you up to today?”

“Not too much, have to stop in at work to check on things. I’ll tell you, owning hotels is usually easy, but the minute something goes wrong—bam! Life sucks for me. Have to stop in at your grandparents for that function tonight, remember? The one you so luckily got out of—which I hate you for by the way. Maybe I’ll find me a guy though, would make the night a bit better. So what about you, got any big plans for today?”

“No, not really. I am going to check out the bookstore this afternoon. I saw it yesterday but wanted to have more time to check it out so I waited until today.”

“Wow! You walked past a bookstore without going in!? The world is coming to an end—it’s the Armageddon!”

“Ha, ha mother. And then there’s this festival in town tonight, I think I might check it out for a bit, see what it’s like.”

“Yeah, that kind of sounds like fun. Have you met anyone yet?”

“Well, kind of, I met the guy who owns the diner, good food, _great_ coffee; I’ll have to take you there sometime when you come. And then these two gossiping ladies that were in the diner, Miss Patty and Babette. That’s pretty much it though. The town square is real nice, I read there for a while yesterday.”

“Oh honey, what did I tell you—this is your time to go out and have fun, quit with the reading already!” Lorelai said with a laugh.

“Hey!” She replied indigently.

“I’m just teasing you. So, any cute guys yet?”

“Oh, not really…”Rory replied vaguely, thinking about her pre-sleep thoughts from the night before.

“Darn,” Lorelai sighed, “keep an eye out for me, too.”

“What about Mr. Dirty from last night?” She questioned.

“Oh, that was an ‘Emily-approved’ date, so probably not going to see him again,” she said with a sigh, “well, I’d better get going, I’ve got a full agenda for the day before making myself pretty for tonight. Call me after your first day, or before if you want.”

“Bye, mom, it was good to talk to you. Love you.”

“Love you too, kid.”

 

Rory hung up the phone and put a few pop tarts in the toaster. She poured herself a second cup of coffee, grabbed the pop tarts and sat down at the table. Quickly she ate her pop tarts and drank her coffee. She stood up, poured herself another mug, and went to throw on some clothes.

She hurried down the stairs and over to the bookstore; she was excited. It had been awhile since she had been in a new bookstore. She stepped inside and smiled. It was small, quaint, but packed full of books. An older man sat at the counter talking to another man over the counter. They both stopped when she came in. They waved and smiled slightly, and, as soon as she walked towards the shelves, began to whisper. She smiles to herself, knowing they were wondering about her. It didn’t bother her, she was in a bookstore so couldn’t be anything but happy.

She perused the shelves for a few hours, every section being explored. She had gathered a large stack in her arms to buy, but new she couldn’t afford them all. She sat cross-legged on the floor and began to sort the books into two piles; the must-haves and the ones she could maybe do without. After sorting through them three times she was able to weed it down to only six books. She sighed longingly at the “reject” pile but walked away quickly.

She approached the counter, “Is it okay if I leave this pile here while I put back the ones I had to part with?”

“Sure,” he replied, looking at the large pile of discards.

After re-shelving the pile of books she hurried back up to the counter looking sad.

“Sorry,” she said to the man, “I hate putting books back, but this is all I can afford right now.”

“It’s alright. You must be the new girl I’ve heard about. I’m Andrew.”

“Yeah, I’m Rory. It’s nice to meet me. You’ll probably see me in here a lot,” she replied with a smile, “It’s a really nice store.”

“Thank you, come anytime you want, even if it’s just to browse.”

“I’ll probably take you up on that. Thank you, Andrew. Bye.”

She carried her sacks of books back to her apartment. As she passed the diner she saw Luke at the counter and gave a small wave, the best she could manage with her bags. The festival looked like it was just barely getting started in the square, she decided to head home and freshen up before heading back out to check it out.


	7. Chapter 7: Festivals and Offered Help

_Chapter 7: Festivals and Offered Help_

Twenty minutes later she stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off. She towel dried her hair and ran the curling iron quickly through it, just enough to add volume. She put on a bit of makeup and then went into the bedroom to get dressed. After staring at her closet for a full ten minutes she sighed exasperatedly. 'Why do I care this much?' she asked herself and hastily grabbed her “cute” jeans and a tank top.

Rory arrived at the town square just as things were beginning to pick up. There were lots of booths, many of which had food so she decided that was at least a plus. She saw Miss Patty serving punch and walked over to say hi. After a little bit of small talk, she politely took a glass of the punch from her. She almost spit it out after the first taste. Yet it was surprisingly addicting, despite its taste. After walking around for about an hour and eating numerous things, Taylor headed to the gazebo and cleared his throat into the microphone.

“Excuse me folks, Miss Patty here is going to go ahead and tell the story that we all came here for and then we are going to light the bonfire.” Rory heard a few groans after that statement.

“This, boys and girls, is the story of true love. A beautiful girl from one county; a handsome boy from another. They meet and they fall in love. Separated by distance and by parents who did not approve of the union, the young couple dreamed of a day that they could be together. They wrote each other beautiful letters. Letters of longing and passion. Letters full of promises and plans for the future. Soon the separation proved too much for either one of them to bear. So, one night, cold and black with no light to guide them, they both snuck out of their homes and ran away as fast as they could. It was so dark out that they were both soon lost and it seemed as if they would never find each other. Finally, the girl dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her lovely face. 'Oh, my love. Where are you? How will I find you?' Suddenly, a band of stars appeared in the sky. These stars shone so brightly they lit up the entire countryside. The girl jumped to her feet and followed the path of the stars until finally she found herself standing right where the town gazebo is today. And there waiting for her was her one true love, who had also been led here by the blanket of friendly stars,” she pauses for effect, “And that, my friends, is the story of how Stars Hollow came to be, and why we celebrate that fateful night every year at about this time. Some say they built the fire to keep warm, some say they built it to throw themselves on so their parents could never refuse their love, I guess that’s for each of us to decide.”

“And now onto that bonfire,” Taylor called, “Does anybody have any matches?” The crowed groaned again, louder this time.

Rory waited for about fifteen minutes and when they still hadn’t found any matches, she gave up. She sighed and headed to Luke’s to get some coffee, ‘and maybe some more food’ she thought to herself with a smile.

The little bell above the door jingled as she walked into the diner. Luke poked his head out of the storage room to see who it was and gave a slight wave to her as she sauntered up to the counter. He emerged a few second later with a large coffee canister in his hands.

“Ohh! You know just what I like!” Rory exclaimed happily. ‘Wow that was a ‘ _dirty’_ she thought to herself with a smile.

He gave her a slight smirk, almost as if he knew what she had thought in her head. He set the canister down on the counter next to the coffee maker.

“So did you get sick of the festival already?” He asked with a knowing smile.

“Yeah…”

“Let me guess, they didn’t have any matches to light the bonfire and were taking forever to find some?”

“Hey, how’d you know?”

“It happens every single year,” he said with a grunt.

“Wow. Really? That’s sad. There was some good food though, and I had some of Miss Patty’s punch and…”

“You did? Aw jeez I can’t believe she let you. You really shouldn’t drink that stuff, I swear it’s lethal. I know more than a few people who have felt the after effects the next morning, there’s enough alcohol in it to keep Betty Ford, the early years, happy.”

“Hmm, really…well I don’t fell any different than usual,” she said with a slight giggle, “anyway, I was hoping for some coffee of course and a slice of pie if you’ve got one.”

“Didn’t you say you just ate at the festival?”

“Yeah, but that was like almost an hour ago and it was only a few things, a chili dog, some cotton candy, a pretzel, a funnel cake; no pie!” She exclaimed.

“Jeez, I’ve barely known you two days and already I feel bad for your stomach. Do you eat like this all the time?”

“Oh yes, we Gilmore women have iron stomachs. No bring me that pie!” She cried with mock anger.

He placed piece on a plate and set it in front of her. He leaned against the counter across from her and chatted with her as she ate it; mostly random banter between the two, centering on her caffeine and junk food addiction, but sometimes touching on a few more serious topics. It had been about over an hour since he had given her the pie and it was getting a little late, definitely past closing time for him. She thought about going home and unwinding before bed. She groaned as she remembered that her TV still wasn’t hooked up.

“If only I weren’t so technology challenged,” she muttered, louder than she intended.

“What?” Luke grunted.

“Oh, nothing, sorry,” she replied, embarrassed, “Well, maybe you can help me. Is there an electronics store or repair shop in this town? Or just someone who can help me set up my TV? I hate to admit it but I don’t know the first thing about it.”

“A TV? Well, I can probably help you, I mean if you want. I know a thing or two about fixing stuff so I could at least take a look at it.”

“Really? You would do that for me?”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he grunted, “It’ll probably only take a few minutes. Want me to come over tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I mean, if that works for you, that would be great for me.”

“Sure. Why don’t you come by here in the afternoon, maybe 2 or so, after the lunch rush, and then you can show me to your place and I can take a look at it then and see what needs doing.”

“Ok, that sounds great. Thanks, you’ve been a great help already. I’m glad I met you,” she said with a wide smile.

He looked away.

“Well, anyway,” she began, and laid some money on the counter, “here’s for the pie and coffee. Thanks for the company and saving me from the rest of the festival. I’ll come by about two tomorrow. Thanks again,” she said with another big smile and a wave as she headed for the door.

He gave a slight nod of his head as he watched her walk out the door and across the square, his mind still a bit fuzzy from her smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I borrowed Miss Patty’s story from the episode 1:16 Star Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers


	8. Chapter 8: A TV Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: There will be some Italian in this chapter and continuing throughout the rest of the story. Please note, I do not actually speak Italian (I wish I did though!) so if anyone is reading this who does and it doesn’t sound quite right, I’m sorry. Also, I am not going to translate everything I put in, only the stuff that I feel is important. I guess if you really want to know what it says, just ask. Thanks.

_Chapter 8: A TV Date_

            Rory woke up the next morning feeling tired, but with a smile on her face. She trudged out to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. She looked at the clock, ‘eleven already?’ she thought to herself.

            She had decided on the walk home last night that she had better run to the market again so that she could offer Luke a snack or at least a beverage. Looking around the apartment she concluded it was probably clean enough that she didn’t have to do anything with it. However, she also opted not to finish unpacking her last box, the one that contained all of her pictures and framed items. It was sitting in the corner opposite the TV in the living room. Her books were piled everywhere. She had easily filled up the one built-in bookcase in the living room and also the one that she had brought with her, plus her little nightstand in her bedroom, but she still had heaps that were, well, heaped on top of each other and piled in the corners of the room.

            She quickly drank a mug of coffee, put two pop tarts in the toaster and poured herself another mug. She ate her pop tarts and gulped down her second cup of coffee. She trudged off to the shower and proceeded to get ready. Forty five minutes later she was dressed and ready to go.

            When she got to the store she grabbed a cart and started wandering. She was unsure of what to get and so simply started grabbing stuff. She got more pop tars, some fruit, bags of chips, crackers, popcorn, some more sandwich ingredients. She went to the beverage aisle and got more milk, some juice, tea packets and two twelve-packs of beer. Looking at it and deciding that she had enough variety she headed to the register. Taylor was at the register and they exchanged pleasantries. As the bagboy was loading everything into sacks she suddenly stopped.

            “Um, Taylor,” she began nervously, “Can I take the cart with me if I bring it right back?” She asked, though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

            “Carts are not allowed outside the premises young lady.” Taylor replied haughtily.

            “Taylor, it’s just across the square, you own the building, please, I don’t have a car, how am I supposed to get all these groceries home?”

            “Well, that is a problem, isn’t it?” He turned to the bagboy, “Dean, you can assist this young lady to her apartment.”

            Rory glanced at the bagboy. He looked about her age. She smiled apologetically and grabbed what bags she could, “I guess I’ll have to buy in small quantities from now on,” she said with a laugh.

            “That’s okay,” he said with a small smile, “Come on, you lead.”

            They headed across the square quietly for a few minutes until Dean spoke up, “So are you new here?”

            “Yeah, I just moved in on Thursday. I’m Rory.”

            “Dean,” he said with a smile, “though you probably already heard that from Taylor.”

            “This is me,” she pointed to the building and they entered. They walked up the flight of stairs and suddenly Rory was nervous.

            “Well, this is my floor, you can just set them down there, thanks again.”

            “Are you sure? I can carry them in for you if you’d like?”

            “No, I’ve got it from here. Thank you so much,” she said with a small smile.

            He hesitated, but set the bags down and headed towards the stairs with a wave back.

            Once he was out of sight she pulled her keys out and went to her door and unlocked it. She set her bags down on the counter and then went back out in the hall to grab another load, and then finally the two packs of beer. She put everything away and put away the bags. She started another pot of coffee and headed for the couch. Sitting down she picked up the book she had been reading the day before and settled in.

            Absentmindedly she got up, poured herself another cup of coffee and sat back down, continuing to read. Suddenly she sat upright and looked at her watch. It was two o’clock already! ‘Damn her and her love for reading,’ she thought to herself. She hurried outside and across the square towards the diner. She slowed sown as she got closer, not wanting to be winded when she walked in. The diner was empty when she got there, something she hadn’t seen during the day before. She was standing in the middle looking around when Luke came out from behind the curtain carrying a tool box. He looked grumpier than usual; when he saw Rory he willed himself to relax his face, hoping it worked.

            “Hey!” Rory exclaimed loudly, she rushed on, “I was going to be here early so I could eat something before two, but me and my stupid books. I started reading and lost track of time. So now not only am I almost late, but I also don’t get to eat,” she finished with a pout.

            He half smiled at her as he pulled something off the counter. It was a take-out box and a to-go cup. She looked inside and saw a hamburger and a salad.

            “You are a god,” she said with a smile, “though don’t think you can get me to eat this healthy looking thing.”

            “Don’t worry, that is for me. I figured you wouldn’t eat it.”

            She took a drink of the coffee and sighed, “You make the best coffee,” she said with a dreamy smile, “I was telling my mom all about it. We are coffee connoisseurs, too, so I know what I’m talking about.”

            “Great. I sell the best tasting cup of death, there’s something I can be proud of,” he said gruffly.

            She laughed, “How dare you insult it right to its face?”

            “Aw, jeez, are we gonna go fix this TV or not?” He asked with a sigh.

            “Yeah, yeah, someone’s anxious,” she teased with a wink. He rolled his eyes and followed her towards the door.

            “Ceaser, I’m going out. I’ll be back for the dinner rush,” he yelled.

            She carried the food and her coffee while he carried his tool box. She led them across the town square and towards her building. They approached the door on the street and once inside Luke almost seemed to let out a sigh of relief. Rory turned to look at him.

            “Sorry, I’m just glad that Miss Patty or Babette didn’t see us. Not that it’s bad or anything. They just don’t need much to start all kinds of crazy rumors, especially since you’re new in town.”

            Rory just nodded and started up the stairs. They stopped in front of her door and she pulled out her keys, unlocking it. She walked in and held the door open for him.

            “It’s still a little bare from the move, but its home,” she said with a happy smile. He nodded and walked in, setting the tool box on the ground, he took a quick glance around. He noticed all her books.

            “Wow, you weren’t kidding about reading.”

            “Nope. My mom always teases me about it, but I can’t help it, they’re my world.”

            “You must be really close to your mom, you talk about her a lot.”

            “She’s my best friend,” she said simply. He got a far away look in his eyes but just nodded.

            She set the take-out container on the kitchen table. “Do you want to eat now? I’ll grab some plates and silverware.”

            “Sure,” he said and sat down.

            They ate quickly, talking only slightly in between bites.

            When they were done he stood up and glanced at her.

            “So what seems to be the trouble with it?” He asked her, looking at the TV.

            “Well, um, the movers took it out of the box and left all the wires on the floor and that’s about all I’ve done. I know, it’s dumb and girly but I have no idea what to do with the wires, what goes where, etc… I just want to be able to occasionally watch the news and be able to use the DVD and VCR.”

            “Alright, well it probably shouldn’t take too long, you can just pretend I’m not here and do whatever,” he said.

            “Or I could sit here and watch you work,” she replied with a smile.

            He ducked his head, picked up his toolbox and headed towards the TV. He started sorting out the wires and lining everything up.

            Luke was halfway behind the TV, and she was sitting on the couch watching, trying not to stare, when her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID.

           “I'm sorry Luke, it's my grandparents, I have to take this.” She saw him wave his hand slightly at her as if to say okay.

            “Hello.”

            “Hi, Grandpa.”

            “Si. Salve nonno. Come stai?”

            “Stu molto bene, grazie.”

            "Lo non lo so”

            "No, mi é indifferente.”

            "Quando?”

            "Si. Chi?”

            "Ovviamente.”

            "L'amo fino adora. Non hovisto troppa. Sono andato alla libreria, ciō era piacevole.”

            “Stai attenot. Arrivederci!”

  
            She hung up and went back over to the couch.

            “Long distance?” Luke asked, glancing up at her as he finished fiddling with something.

            “What? Oh, not, just my grandpa in Hartford.”

            “I didn't know you spoke Italian.”

            “You recognized it?” She half asked, he nodded slightly, “I spent a summer in Italy with my grandparents and just fell in love with the language. I've been studying it ever since. I practice with my grandpa.”

            “Yeah. You sounded nice,” he said, almost sadly.

            She blushed and looked away.

             He coughed, “Anyway, I've got it all hooked up. Why don't you try it out and see.

          “Ok,” she hollered from the kitchen, walking towards the refrigerator “I'm grabbing a beer, do you want one?” ‘Please say yes,' she thought to herself.

            “Sure. Thanks.”

            She grabbed two beers and headed back towards the TV. She grabbed the remote that had been sitting on the arm of the couch. It clicked to life as she hit the power button. She flipped through the channels, making sure they all worked. Luke sat down on the couch and took a drink of his beer.

            Rory looked at him and then looked away quickly, “Do you want to test the DVD? We could watch something?” She asked, scanning her movies.

            “Um, yeah, that would be nice.”

            “Do you care which one?

            He laughed, “I probably haven’t seen any of them, so why don’t you just go ahead and pick one.”

            “Ok…hmmm,” she scanned over the titles. She almost grabbed ‘Ghost World’ but decided that might be a little too appropriate. She settled for ‘Ocean’s Eleven’, the new version.

            “Here, this is kind of a guy flick, too, so you might like it.”

            She popped the movie in, grabbed her beer and settled in on the couch a bit away from Luke. Half an hour into the movie she noticed her beer was empty. She glanced over at Luke’s, his was, too. She paused the movie and got up to get more. He noticed her moving.

            “I’m just going to get another beer, do you want one, too?” She asked.

             “Yeah, thanks.”

             She grabbed two more beers out of the fridge and also grabbed the bowl of fruit she has set out, the bags of chips and one of the box of pop tarts. He laughed when he saw her carrying it all.

            “Do you need any help?” He asked, standing up.

             She laughed, “Where were you earlier when I needed this?” He looked at her, confused. “So I went to the store this morning and bought a whole bunch of stuff without thinking and when I went to leave I didn’t know how I was going to get it back here. And, of course, Taylor wouldn’t let me use a cart so Taylor had the bagboy help me carry it all, which was a tad embarrassing. I made him leave the bags at the end of the hall because it freaked me out thinking about him coming into my apartment. Anyway, it was dumb, I guess I’ll just have to shop in spurts from now,” she said with a laugh.

            “Oh, I wondered when I saw you two walking earlier. That was Dean. He’s worked there quite awhile,” he said with obvious disdain in his voice.

            “Ah, it sounds like you don’t like him,” Rory said with an evil smile.

            He sighed and changed the subject, “It sure looks like you bought out part of the store.”

           “Well I tried actually, but Taylor wouldn’t let me,” she said with a laugh, “I have to eat while I watch a movie, it just isn’t the same if I don’t. I have popcorn and some other stuff, too, if none of this interests you.”

           “I’ll have an apple, thanks,” he replied, reaching for the bowl she had set down.

           She grabbed a bag of chips and sat down on the couch, slightly closer to Luke than before. She settled herself in and hit the play button on the remote. Their attention shifted back to the movie.

           An hour later the movie was over and their beers were once again empty. Rory looked at her watch.

           “What time do you have to go back to the diner? You probably don’t have time for another movie do you?”

            “Well, I could call and see if Ceaser and Lane can handle it without me.”

             “Oh, yeah, please do,” she said excitedly. She handed him her cell phone, “I don’t have a house phone yet so you’ll have to use this.”

             He stood up, dialing, and headed into the kitchen. She could just barely make out the hum of his voice, but none of the words. Suddenly he called out to her.

           “It’s okay. You pick out another movie and I’ll grab more beers, does that sound good?”

           “Yeah,” she called as she stood up. She looked through her movies yet again and pulled out ‘The Object of My Affection’.

            “Sorry,” she started to holler to him, “but I chose a chick flick this time,” she turned around, startled, to find him standing there, holding a beer out to her.

            “That’s alright. Do you want something to eat? I don’t know you very well but I do know that you don’t like to miss your meals,” he said with a smile.

           She laughed, “Yeah, let me see what I’ve got to scrounge up. Oh! I bought some frozen TV dinners, I know it’s not great but I really really don’t have anything else.”

            “That’s fine,” he said, “actually, I’ve never had one, so it’ll be something new for me.”

             “Wow,” she exclaimed, “this calls for a celebration,” she raised her beer bottle, “to Luke’s first TV dinner, may it be as bad as they always are,” she said with a laugh.

             “Aw, jeez,” he replied as their bottles clinked.

              Rory popped the two meals into her microwave and hit start. She grabbed napkins and utensils and set them on the sofa. Going back into the kitchen she grabbed two more beers and set them on the end table.

             “It’ll save us a trip,” she explained.

            The microwave dinged and she grabbed hot pads and got the two trays out.

            “Okay, now we have macaroni and cheese with corn and mashed potatoes or we have cheesy chicken pasta with rice and stuffing. Do you have a preference? I’m hoping it’s the chicken because I am really in a macaroni mood,” she said with a giggle.

            “Sounds good, the chicken sounds a bit healthier, too, so I’d better take it for you.”

            They let them cool down for a minute before picking them up and sitting down on the couch once again, even closer still than the last time.

             “Ahh! Forgot the remote!” Rory exclaimed. She grabbed it from the movie shelf and sat down, now only inches away from Luke. She hit the play button and dug into her food.

             Half an hour later they had both finished their dinners and were reaching for their fourth beers. Rory was starting to feel the effects. She normally was not much of a drinker, especially beer, so this was unusual for her. She unconsciously snuggled a bit closer into Luke as she took another drink. Or maybe it was just the buzz that had given her the guts to do it. She set her beer down on the floor and that was the last thing she remembered before drifting off to sleep.

            Luke jerked suddenly out of a deep sleep. Something had moved on him. He slowly blinked his eyes, trying to adjust to his surroundings. Rory was curled against him, his arms wrapped around her. She was sleeping peacefully, with a small smile on her face. He smiled and moved slightly to get more comfortable in his sleep-induced state. Suddenly his mind jumped awake. He needed to be at his apartment to get up to open the diner and Rory…Rory had her first day of work tomorrow! He slowly and quietly extricated himself from beneath her. He picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. She stirred as he laid her in her bed and covered her up. She moaned.

             He whispered quietly in her ear, “Rory, what time should I set the alarm for?”

            “Six,” she barely mumble before turning back over.

            He set the clock quietly and exited her room. He left her apartment and headed down the stairs and across the town square. It was 12:30 and he was hoping it was late enough that no one in Stars Hollow would be up to see him returning home at this hour, but, unknown to him, he was wrong.

 


	9. Chapter 9: Stars Hollow Daily Gazette

Chapter 9: Stars Hollow Daily Gazette

 

                Rory awoke Monday morning to the sound of her alarm. She rolled over, confused. She had clothes on and couldn’t remember going to bed. She groaned and sat up in bed. She had a slight headache. Slowly, the night before came back to her; watching movies with Luke, drinking beer, falling asleep, Luke carrying her into bed. She smiled at the thought. She groaned again and got out of bed, she didn’t have time to think about any of that now, she had a new job to get ready for.

                She headed towards the kitchen and started a strong pot of coffee. She ate a pop tart and drank a cup quickly before heading off to the shower. After taking a long, hot shower she took extra care and time getting ready. She refilled her mug and headed to her bedroom to pick out an outfit. She sifted through her closet finally settling on a soft green skirt and jacket with a blouse and her new black dress shoes. Her grandmother had insisted on buying her a few new outfits for her new job and this had been one she had fallen in love with the second she had seen it. It was professional and yet she felt it still accented her youth and her few bodily assets.

                Finishing her second cup of coffee she checked at her watch. It was 7:10. She wanted to get their a little early, 7:45 she decided. Figuring it was about a ten minute walk, that left her twenty five minutes. She poured herself another cup of coffee and ate another pop tart. She stood up to pack a small lunch and a thermos and then went in search of her briefcase and purse.

                She was standing by the door, ready to walk out. It was 7:30. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Giving herself a mental kick in the pants she headed out the door. It was a nice morning to walk though she could tell by the humidity it was going to be another hot day.

                She walked briskly; fast enough to not look at anything but slow enough to not be sweating. She arrived at the office a little after 7:40.

                Pushing open the front door she walked in and was greeted by the secretary, Mrs. Shotley. Mrs. Shotley was the wife of Mr. Shotley, who owned and ran the paper. They were both older, at least 65 Rory had to guess. She had met both of them when she had done her interview and had immediately liked them. They reminded her of the opposites of her grandparents; warm, open, friendly, forgiving. Both of them had been ecstatic when she had accepted the job. Bill and Irene, as they had asked her to call them, had been running the newspaper together since 1947 when they had gotten married after Bill had come back from the war. They had been able to do most of themselves in those early years but as they were each getting on in age now they had been slowly hiring out freelancers. Apparently they had both decided it was time to get some full time help, which was where Rory came in.

                Bill came out from his office and smiled at her. He ushered her into her office across the hall from his. They spent the first two hours or so going through paper work and other technicalities. He then explained simple office things to her, the setup, the way they ran things, etc.

                “This is going to be weird for us, having someone else here full time. We’re happy about it, don’t you worry, but just to let you know, it might take us a few days to get acclimated,” he said with a smile.

                He went on to explain which stories she would be writing, which ones they got from the AP, how they covered things, formatting for the paper and the programs they used. By the time they had gone through all of that it was after 11:30.

                “Ok, so I think its about lunch time,” Bill said, “why don’t we meet back in the board room at one and we’ll start some assignments, sound good?”

                Rory nodded. An hour and half was a long time to eat the small lunch she had packed. She thought to herself for a few minutes. Going to Luke’s was the first thing that popped into her mind, but for some reason she was nervous after the night before. Looking across the street she considered going to Al’s Pancake World, but was hesitant. Finally, she decided to simply eat her lunch in the square and read a book. It would certainly save her the money that she didn’t really have. She grabbed her lunch, book and cell phone and headed towards the square.

             Plopping (well at least as much as she could in her work cloths) down onto a bench she pulled out her lunch and started reading. She was careful to check her watch frequently so as not to be back late to work. Finally, at 12:40 she got up, through away her trash and began walking back to the office. She hadn’t noticed Luke’s almost constant glances at her through the diner windows.

             Rory arrived back at the paper in plenty of time. She assembled all of her notes and things she needed for the meeting and headed to the board room. The meeting took only about thirty minutes. Bill handed out some information to her, mainly upcoming events and stories to cover, and also gave her ideas and feedback regarding some of her regular columns.

                Heading back to her office she set to work. The afternoon passed quickly, she was researching and making calls, taking stories off the wire. She had only been away from the Yale Daily News for a few months, but she had missed the thrill of the newspaper world. Granted, this was much slower paced and the paper was only six pages long during the week, but it was still great.

                It still seemed early when Bill peaked his face in her office.

                “It’s five o’clock, Irene and I are heading home, you should do the same,” he said with a smile, “we’ll see you in the morning.

                She smiled and waved, “I’m just going to finish this thought and then wrap it up.”

                Twenty minutes later she saved her work, packed up her laptop and briefcase and headed out. She was starving, which didn’t surprise her due to her small lunch. She saw Luke’s and sighed, ‘suck it up’ she said to herself and headed in that direction.

                The bell jingled above her as she entered, announcing her presence. She headed up to the counter and sat down, setting her briefcase and purse on the floor beside her stool.

                She had been sitting at the counter for a few minutes when Luke came out from the kitchen, balancing numerous plates on his arms. He slowed down she he saw her, almost as if startled. A few minutes later, after delivering the plates and checking on other customers, he came up to the counter.

                “What can I get for you?” he asked offhandedly.

                “I’ll have my usual; cheeseburger and onion rings, but can you put a different kind of cheese on the burger today?” She asked excitedly.

                “What kind?”

                “I don’t know, surprise me!” She said with a laugh.

                Her smile was contagious. He almost started laughing with her. Instead, he went in the back and put in her order. He came back out and started to pour her a cup of coffee.

                “Ohh! Thank you, I’ve got you trained well,” she aid with a laugh. “Can I get a Coke, too, when you bring out my meal?”

                “Seriously?” He asked, puzzled, “I’ve never seen you drink anything except coffee, well…” he trailed off and they both knew they were thinking of the previous night.

                “Yeah, well, I’m parched and a bit warm so a nice cold Coke sounds surprisingly good,” she said as she removed the jacket of her suit, revealing a cream colored sleeveless blouse.

                “Why are you so dressed up? Ohh—right! Today was your first day. How’d it go?”

                She smiled, “Good. Have you ever met Bill and Irene?”

                “A few times, I don’t know them too well, though.”

                “They’re so nice. I just know I’m going to like working with them. And it’s great to be back in the newspaper world. Granted it was only like three months that I was away, but still, I just love it. I’ve still got some work to do at home tonight though.”

                He nodded and smiled slightly before going to check on a few more tables and then brought her soda out. She drank almost half of it in one sip.

                “Man, that was good,” she said to him, “my grandmother would have had a fit if she saw how I just drank that,” she smiled at the thought of defying her grandmother.

                He turned around and grabbed some plates from the kitchen window and headed off to check on some tables.

                Rory had finished her Coke and had started back on her coffee when Luke brought her food out. She again realized how hungry she was a quickly began eating.

                “Yum!” She exclaimed, “What kind of cheese did you put on it?”

                “I’m not sure if I should tell you my secret ingredient or not…” he paused, pondering to himself.

                “Hell, I don’t care; it’s good, that’s all I care about,” she said with a smile.

             After the first initial bites, she slowed down and ate, savoring both her food and her free time before having to head to her apartment and get some more work done. She wanted to impress Bill and have her articles done for tomorrow’s deadline. The paper always went to bed fairly early, probably because there was never too much going on in Stars Hollow, right around 7pm. Sometimes, if there was a scheduled event or big news they would put it down later. Rory was glad to have a slightly relaxed environment. Sure, she had always dreamed with her mom of running off to be an overseas correspondent, but after the years of pushing and forcing herself to be Lorelai Gilmore-Hayden, slow-paced seemed just right to her.

            Rory snapped out of her thinking mode and finished up her meal. She was still a bit hungry, “Hey Luke,” she yelled, “can I get some pie?”

            He appeared from behind a door, “You can if you stop yelling in front of my customers.”

            “Ah, for pie, I think I can do that,” she smiled.

            Luke handed her a slice of pie and they talked for a few minutes while she ate it. Finally she looked at her watch, “I should get going, want to do a bit more work before I go to sleep. But I’ll see you tomorrow?”

            He looked at her with a questioning look on his face.

           “I’m sure I’ll be here for at least one meal,” she said with a smile.

           “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye”

           “Good night.”


	10. Chapter 10: Insert Week Here

Chapter 10: Insert Week Here

 

                Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday seemed to rush by for Rory. She got up, grabbed a quick bite at her apartment and then hustled to Luke’s for a quick morning coffee before heading off to work. She ate quick lunches of pop tarts and coffee at the office and then would eat a late dinner at Luke’s and head home to do some more work and head off to bed. Before she knew it her first week of work was almost done. Granted she didn’t really have weekends, she had to work at least some hours on both Saturday and Sunday, just enough to get stories out, especially on Saturday, preparing for Sunday which was the largest edition of the paper each week.

                It was Friday afternoon and she was just about finishing up for the day. It was a little later than her usual leaving time, after six, but she had wanted to get a few things finished up for the day. Once again she headed over to Luke’s for dinner.

                “You know,” she said as she plopped down on a stool in front of him, “your profits must be way up since I’ve come to town.”

                He laughed, “Yeah, all that coffee you consume is going to help pay for my new Porsche.”

                She made a face, “Eh, Porsche’s are over rated, what you want is a Jag, those are the new IT cars,” she paused and made another face, “Wow, I just sounded like my grandmother there for a second, I am so sorry.”

                “Do you want your usual?” He asked.

                “Yeah, except I think I’ll take fries tonight instead of onion rings. Ohh, and put that yummy cheese on it again,”

                “Wow, you went to Yale and the best you can come up with is ‘yummy’?” He asked, teasingly.

                “Hey,” she said with a mock pout, “I do have an extensive vocabulary, a plethora of words, of which I could demonstrate to you should I ever feel the need to provide evidence to my intellect, but, in all truthfulness, the precise word to accurately describe that cheese is, in fact, yummy,” she said, all in one breath, with a satisfactory smile on her face.

                He just looked at her like she was crazy and went back into the kitchen to put her order in. The diner seemed unusually busy; it must have been because it was a Friday night. About fifteen minutes after she had ordered Luke hurried over to her and stopped with a grunt.

                “It’s still going to be a few more minutes, sorry for the wait, this damn group of tourists is nutty and driving me nutty with them!” He huffed off again towards the kitchen with yet another grunt.

                She laughed to herself and decided to get some work done. She pulled out her laptop, got it booted up and started working on editing a few stories. Suddenly, Luke was in front of her with a plate of food.

                “My, my, you’re looking very studious today,” he said with a smirk.

                She smiled widely at the sight of her food, she was hungry. She began to switch off between eating and working at an even pace, occasionally throwing in some chatter with Luke.

                It was 8:30 now and she had changed positions slightly. The diner had begun to empty so she had spread out more and she was now eating a piece of pie for dessert.

                “You know,” she said to Luke as he walked by her, “this is the first Friday night I’ve had free in as long as I can remember and I’m working. I’m not sure if I should feel proud or pathetic,” she said with a laugh. “See, every Friday my mom and I eat dinner at my grandparent’s house. Without fail every Friday at six o’clock we ring their doorbell, unless on of us was sick or out of the country. I got out of it this week claiming I still had a lot to do settling in her. But come next Friday I’m back in the saddle.”

                “It doesn’t sound like you like your grandparents very much,” he observed.

                “Oh, no, it’s not that. I love my grandpa, he and I get along great and my grandmother is okay. There is always tension between them and my mom. Plus we really don’t mesh on a lots of life ideas—my choice to work and mover her for example, or my not saying yes when my boyfriend asked me to marry him. Those have been two tense issues lately. But, no, I do love them.”

                He nodded as he refilled her coffee mug, “This is your last one for the night.”

                She gave him a pout, “Fine, I’ll agree, but only if you talk to me for a bit before I have to leave.”

                “Fine. If it will get you to stop drinking coffee I’m all for it.”

                The next twenty minutes passed quickly, they were chatting and joking comfortably about random things, mostly regarding the town. The issue of coffee was touched several times, each time ending with Rory giving Luke a slight swat on the arm for one insult or another.

                Finally, as it was nearing nine, Rory knew she had to leave. She said her goodbyes and packed up all her work and headed off to her apartment. It was weird for her to be living alone. She had lived with her mom for most of her life, and about a quarter of that time her dad was with them, and then in college she had always had a roommate. It would be more productive, she knew, but also a bit lonely, especially considering she was in a town where she knew very few people.

                She worked for about an hour and a half before heading off to her bed. She fell asleep immediately and didn’t wake up again until her alarm went off at nine a.m. She got ready to head into the office for a couple of hours and get her work done.

                It ended up being 4:30 by the time she got all of her stuff done and had headed home. Too tired to do much she ordered in from a Chinese place she had passed the other day and popped a movie in the DVD player. Three movies and four boxes of Chinese food later she had fallen asleep on the couch.

                The sun streaming through her living room windows woke her up. She groaned; it felt too early to be awake. She glanced at a clock, 8:30, she was right. Sighing, she got up and headed for the shower. After throwing on some of her casual work clothes she headed off to Luke’s for some coffee. She made it a quick stop, just a to-go cup and a muffin, and headed to the paper.

                Again, she put in a few more hours than she meant to. It was after three when she headed out the door. She had forgotten how much she liked spending time working on her articles.

                The rest of Sunday passed almost without incident. She talked to her mom some, they made more plans for the visit Lorelai and Emily and Richard were planning for the coming weekend. Rory was excited to see them all and to show them the town. They talked for almost an hour and then Rory settled down on the couch with a TV dinner and another movie. She headed to bed early, wanting to be fully rested for her next week of work.

                Monday arrived and ended without incident. She went to Luke’s for coffee in the morning, worked at the paper all day and finally decided to try out Al’s Pancake World for dinner. Much to her surprise, pancakes were the furthest thing from the menu. She did however enjoy it, it was typical fast food; cheap yet strangely satisfying.

                Her nights were becoming ritual; she would get home from dinner (usually at Luke’s though sometimes elsewhere) about 8, 8:30, and she would work until ten when she would watch the news. Then she would head off to bed to start her day all over again.

                When she got to work on Tuesday Bill gave her a new assignment for the week. There was to be a town meeting held on Thursday night which she was to cover for a story on Friday. ‘This sounds interesting’ she thought to herself ‘I wonder what goes on at these meetings?’

                It was a busty news week and the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday passed quickly. Come Wednesday night Rory found herself eating dinner once again at Luke’s.

                “Come on won’t you please just order something besides a burger and onion rings tonight, that stuff is so unhealthy for you. Just once, order a salad or some grilled chicken, something with vegetables, anything besides a burger!”

                Rory paused for a second, “Okay,” she said with a smile. Luke looked up at her, surprised. She continued, “I will have chicken fingers and potato chips; covered my non burger and my vegetables requirement,” she proclaimed with a wide smile.

                He sighed as he went to the kitchen to put her order in. A few minutes later he brought her food out and she started munching happily on it.

                “Hey Luke, do you go to the town meetings around here? Apparently there’s one tomorrow night and I’m covering it for the paper. I thought I could tag along with you if you were going.”

                “Actually, I usually don’t go, but I’ve got a bone to pick with Taylor so I was planning on going to this one. That’s usually the only reason I go is if I have something to argue with him about.”

                She laughed, “So would it be okay if I showed up here at say 6:40 to walk over with you. I want to make sure I’m not late. This is kind of my first real “on location” assignment,” she said with a nervous smile.

                “Yeah, that’d be good,” he said in his usual curt way.

                “Okay, well, I have some more work to do tonight, but I’ll see you tomorrow?”

                “Yep, tomorrow.”

                “Bye.”

                “Bye.”

 

 

               

 


	11. Chapter 11: Town Meeting

Chapter 11: Town Meeting

 

Rory awoke later than usual on Thursday morning. She hadn’t set her alarm because Bill had told her to come in late since she would be covering the meeting that night. She took her time getting ready and drinking her coffee. It was after 10:30 by the time she headed out the door.

Her day went quickly and smoothly and before she knew it, it was 6:30 and she was walking across the square towards the diner. Luke was sweeping and closing up when she got there.

“Do you always close up for meetings?”

“Yeah,” he said, “even if I don’t go, there’s never anyone here because of them, so it’s not worth it.”

“Ahh,” she said, nodding her head.

"Well, I’m ready to go if you are,” he said, setting down the rag he’d been holding.

“Yes, lets.”

They headed towards Miss Patty’s, where the meetings are held. Rory wanted to get a good seat but Luke wanted to sit in the back, they worked out a compromise by sitting nearer to the front but on the edge of the row.

After a few minutes of waiting, people started to arrive. A few people stopped to say hello to them. Taylor approached the podium that was set up and Miss Patty sat on the stage to his right.

“This town meeting will come to order,” Miss Patty called out as Taylor banged the gavel.

Taylor began speaking, “All right, let's go to our first order of business. Hmm. A matter has been brought to our attention, and I would like to bring it to the floor for discussion. Someone has been littering banana peels in the town square again.”

All of the townspeople groaned.

"Now come on people, this is a serious problem, we need to find this culprit and we all need to work together to do it.”

Miss Patty banged the gavel, “Next order of business.”

“Ah, yes, next on our agenda is yet another important issues; ticks. The ferocity of attack is not affected by whether they're in the larval or nymphal life stage or whether they're of the one-, two-, or three-host variety.

“Oh, I hate this, Taylor. Every year,” Miss Patty interjected.

“Yeah, we get it -- ticks are bad,” added Babette

“Maybe people who are new to our town -- thus, new to the town meeting -- don't know the hazards of the common tick,” refuted Taylor.

A woman Rory didn’t know stood up, “Ticks are bad! Moving on!”

“Don't hate the tick messenger. Hate the tick. Now, to continue...That's when a tick clamps onto his host, plunges his hypostome into the skin, and feasts on his next blood meal.”

All the townspeople groaned once again.

“You take too much delight in this, Taylor,” said Miss Patty

A man Rory didn’t know, though had seen in the diner voiced his opinion, seeming very interested, “Go on, Taylor. He's sucking out the blood...”

“They feed for extensive periods, and at large volumes, up to 500 times their body weight. This would be the equivalent of a 150-pound man drinking 9,000 gallons of human blood.”

Babette interjected at that point, “Taylor, please! We get it!”

“Let's just vote on whatever it is you want us to vote on,” Miss Patty said tiredly.

“Before I hurl,” Andrew from the bookstore added.

“Yeah!” Agreed another man

Taylor sighed and continued, “Fine. The question before us is, shall the town incur the expense of posting signs urging residents to tuck their pants into their socks during tick season? In favor?”

Three people raised their hands

“Opposed?”

The remainder of the room raises their hands

“The measure is defeated by an irresponsible, devil-may-care majority. Now we move on to the next item…No one is listening to me”

“Oh, Taylor, calm down,” Miss Patty sighed.

“I can't calm down, I'm being ignored.”

“I promise that we hear you,” Miss Patty signed once again.

“We've been hearing you for 20 minutes,” Andrew piped in.

 “Well, excuse me, Andrew, but some of us have businesses to run that don't involve peddling drug paraphernalia to kids,” Taylor said.

“It was a lava lamp, Taylor.”

“There is no use for a lava lamp unless you're on drugs.”

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

Rory took this chance to lean over to Luke and whisper to him, “Is it always like this?”

“Oh, yeah, this is actually pretty sane so far. Sometimes Taylor really gets going, and heck, I haven’t even yelled at all yet.”

Rory switched her attention back to the floor just as Taylor was starting to talk again.

“Now the next issue is whether the price of pet registration should increase from the current price of $5 per year to a new price of $8 per year. Does anyone have any sides to discuss?”

The room was quiet. “All right, we’ll put it to a vote then. All in favor?” A majority of the room rasied their hands. “All opposed.” Three people raised their hands.

“All right, the motion has passed and effective September 1st the registration will increase. The last piece of business on my agenda is the matter of Gypsy vs. Andrew. Now these two parties were involved in a motor vehicle collision two days ago. We are here to determine who is responsible and should pay expenses incurred. Now will you two please come forward to tell your stories.”

Andrew, and the woman who had interrupted Taylor before during his tick lecture came forward. Andrew began.

“I was backing out of my parking space in the lot. I looked, then backed up…”

“No,” Gypsy interrupted.

“I did too back up.”

“You backed up. You didn't look. You got in, you turned on your car, and then you whipped out of that space like you were Lizzie Grubman.”

“I did not.”

“Andrew, you did too.”

“I distinctly remember looking in my mirror and seeing nothing.”

“Except me.”

“I didn't see you.”

“Liar”

“I am not a liar,” Andrew retorted.

Taylor interrupted, “All those who think Andrew was in the wrong, please raise your arms.” Several people raise their hands.

“All those who think that Gypsy was at fault, please raise your arms.” More hands raise, Rory writes down the numbers.

“The majority rules. Gypsy is at fault for the fender bender outside the Stars Hollow Garden Center and shall be responsible for all said damages.”

“Ha! We have got to get a courthouse in this town!” Gypsy cried as she sat down in a huff.

“All right,” Taylor said, “I’d like to open the meeting up for miscellaneous issues.”

No one said anything for a few minutes.

“Well,” Taylor said, surprised, “This was a quite meeting. I guess I can say Meeting Adjourned!” And he banged the gavel to accentuate his last statement.

“Wow,” Rory said to Luke, “that was not what I was expecting. Not too much going on right now I guess, eh?”

“No not really. Don’t worry, I promise I’ll get in a fight with Taylor at one of the next meetings.”

“Oh, good, because that is one thing that I wouldn’t want to miss,” Rory said with a smile.

Luke laughed shortly. “Well, I’d better get going; I’ve got to finish cleaning up the diner and then do some paperwork.”

“All right, good night, I’ll probably see you for coffee in the morning.”


	12. Chapter 12: A Family Visitation

Chapter 12: A Family Visitation

 

Rory woke up excited Friday morning. Her mom was coming that evening to spend the weekend with her and her grandparents were coming tomorrow to spend the day with them.

She hurried along throughout her day, anxious for the impending arrivals. Finally, Lorelai called her as she was leaving work slightly after five.

“Hey, I just left the house so I should be there in about thirty minutes or so.”

“Cool, I am just leaving the office. I was thinking pizza and Chinese since they are the only two delivery places here—how does that sound?”

“Perfect.”

“Do you remember the directions I told you?”

 “I have them sitting on the seat next to me, printed off from the email you sent, after dad insisted and then simply printed it off himself and shoved it in my hands.”

Rory laughed, “Yeah that sounds like a typical night at the Gilmore house. I am walking towards my apartment now but I’ll make sure I’m down waiting on the street for you in about twenty minutes.”

“Sounds great. See you then, hon.”

Rory smiled and said goodbye. As she was hanging up she looked up and saw Luke in the diner across the square, he looked busy. He looked up though and she smiled and waved at him as their eyes met. His head nodded in acknowledgement and he smiled slightly. Rory walked towards the door to her building and up the stairs. She set down her briefcase and purse and headed into the kitchen, looking for the delivery menus she had stashed there. Quickly she called and ordered two pizzas and four containers of Chinese, figuring the leftovers would be a welcome break from her usual monotonous lunch. Checking her watch she headed back down the stairs to wait for her mother.

“Fruit of my loins!” Lorelai exclaimed five minutes later as she jumped out of her car.

“Mom! It’s so good to see you!” Rory yelled back as she went to tackle her mother with a hug.

They hugged for a few minutes before untangling themselves. Lorelai reached into her backseat and grabbed a duffel bag.

“Come on up,” Rory said, “the food should be getting her soon, and I got some movies at the store a few days ago so we’re all stocked up.”

“You are your mother’s daughter,” Lorelai replied with a proud sigh.

The two Gilmore girls spent the rest of the evening on the couch watching classics; ‘The Breakfast Club’, ‘Weird Science’ and ‘Say Anything’. Before falling asleep Rory went over the plans for the next day with her mom.

“I am going to get up early and go into work from about 8:30 to a little before 11. Then I’ll come back here and expect you to be ready and then we are going downstairs to meet Grandma and Grandpa in the town square at 11. Okay? So make sure you are up and ready.”

“Yes mom,” Lorelai replied with a smirk.

“Oh, and we will get to taste the best coffee ever tomorrow,” Rory replied teasingly.

Lorelai brightened at that thought and snuggled into her makeshift bed on the couch.

“Goodnight offspring!”

“Goodnight mother!”

 

Rory awoke the following morning looking forward to her day. Getting ready for work she had a smile on her face. Knowing she would need the caffeine, she stopped by Luke’s on the way to the paper.

“Hey Luke.”

“Hi, you’re here early on a Saturday.”

“I’m trying to get my work in while my mom is still asleep and before my grandparent’s get here.”

“Oh, that’s right, that is happening today.”

“Yeah, I was thinking we would probably come for a late lunch sometime after I give them all the tour of the town. I was bragging to mom about your coffee and promised her we would come in. Which, speaking of, can I get a cup to go?”

He already had it ready for her and was handing it to her as she finished asking him. This brought a smile to her face. She looked him square in the eyes, something she had never been able to do with most guys, and smiled again.

“I’ll see you later,” she said, softer than she had intended. Their eyes were still locked. He swallowed stiffly and nodded. It was a few seconds later when they finally broke their gaze, after a customer hollered, trying to get Luke’s attention.

Rory hustled out of the diner, her hands trembling slightly. She hurries as she walks along to the office, trying not to let her brain think, figuring, if she can just walk fast enough; her brain won’t have time to think.

Once she got to the office she didn’t slow down either, she busied herself with story after story, source after source—forcing herself to work instead of think. Finally she felt as if she had accomplished all she needed to for the day, and, with great timing, it was slightly after 10:30.

Rory walked home quickly, anxious to see her grandparents but also nervous as she tried not to notice the diner across the square. She was surprised to find her mother up and ready when she entered the apartment at 10:45; she was drinking a cup of coffee, eating a pop tart and watching the television.

“Hey, you got your television hooked up.”

“Yeah, Luke from the diner, remember I told you about him, he helped me out with it.”

“Oh, yes, Luke… you’ve talked a lot about him actually…”Lorelai said with a smile.

“Yeah, well he feeds me and he has the best coffee ever, I promised you we would have some today, remember?”

Lorelai jumped up off the couch excitedly and she and Rory headed down the stairs.

They were sitting on a bench by the gazebo in the town square waiting for Emily and Richard when Lorelai spoke up, “I cannot believe that there is actually a gazebo in your town, and not just in the town, but right in the center in the town square. It’s just too damn quaint.”

“Oh, I know. Actually, I’m kind of thinking of doing a piece related to that—kind of the whole new comer’s/outsiders view on such a picturesque town, and really just how nice and wonderful everyone here truly is.”

“Anyway, you sound like a Hallmark card and Emily and Richard are here so let’s go meet our deaths.”

Rory hurried over to her grandparents, she was glad to see them. She hugged her grandma and then her grandpa.

“Hi grandma, hi grandpa, I’m so glad you guys came.”

“Well of course we did, Rory, we wanted to see where you were starting your knew life,” Emily said matter-of-factly.

“I figured we could eat a late lunch at Luke’s, the diner across the square, where I eat about half of my meals, plus, grandma, they have really good coffee, but besides that I don’t have too much planned; just figured we’d walk around and see the town.”

“That sound wonderful,” said Richard, happily.

Emily looked down at her feet, “Rory, I didn’t exactly wear walking shoes.”

“Oh,” said Rory, “well, in that case, why don’t we start with the tour of my apartment and you can borrow a pair of my shoes for the walk.

So Rory led them up to her apartment, proud to show them around. She could tell Emily was looking down at it slightly, finding it small and of little substance; Richard seemed genuinely happy for her, though obviously glad he had never lived in a place such as it. After pointing out the obvious rooms Rory grabbed a pair of socks and sneakers and handed them to her grandma.

“Ready?” She asked when Emily stood up.

They all stood up and nodded.

“Ok, well, here we go,” Rory said with a smile as she led them back out her door and down the stairs. They headed left out of her apartment and they wondered on a few fruit-named streets, admiring the “quaint” houses, as Emily put them, before turning back around onto the other side of Main Street and heading back. Rory pointed out the church/synagogue and Miss Patty’s. As they were passing the studio, both Miss Patty and Babette came rushing out.

“Oh, sugar, it's so good to see you. How are ya?”

“I'm good Babette, how are you two today?”

“Oh, we're great, just great,” Miss Patty replied with a sensual laugh, “and who is this fine man with you Rory?”

“Oh, look at the time Miss Patty, we've got to be going.”

“Oh sure thing, Rory, darling,” she said, still eyeing Richard, “great job on the piece about the meeting, hopefully Bill will let you cover them from now on. There’s another one in a couple of weeks—there’s talk of a festival so we’ll probably hear a fight out of Luke,” she said with a laugh.

“Well, then I’ll be there for sure!” Rory laughed, “bye ladies.”

Rory turns to her family and starts explaining who Miss Patty and Babette are and how weird they are.

“They tend to be a little… ‘male friendly’ shall we say,” Rory giggled. She added a few more lines about their quirks and how they first met at the diner, where Rory had, to herself, called them “the whispering women.” Rory noticed that Lorelai was looking at her with a mix of emotions on her face; happiness, sadness and jealousy. Rory feels bad, she knows she has something that her mother wishes she could have—her own happy life apart from Emily and Richard.

Rory cleared her throat and continued on with the tour, past Doose’s Market, past the Soda Shoppe and onto the bookstore, where she convinced them to only look at from the outside.

“Oh, come on, you guys know me and I know you don’t want to spend the rest of your tour watching me look at books.”

“Yea, definitely,” Lorelai said.

“Alright,” said Richard, “but you have to promise to let me buy you something in there before the day is over.”

Rory hesitated for only half a second before nodding with a smile. She pointed out Joe’s Pizza, Al’s Pancake World (which she explained to them didn’t actually sell pancakes or anything related to breakfast food) and the video store.

“And,” Rory began dramatically, “here is the paper! We can go inside and see my office, though its nothing special, but it’s been my second home since I got here.”

They all wandered through the building and Rory showed off the different rooms and explained all sorts of details and gadgets to them. The three others could see how happy and proud Rory was to be working there. Emily still felt a pang of anger that she hadn’t been able to talk Rory into any of the lucrative positions her friends had been willing to offer her, but it was slowly fading as she realized that at least Rory was happy here.

Twenty minutes, and at least that many questions, later, the group headed back out onto Main Street. It was now a little after 12:15. Rory showed them Kim’s Antiques, the bridge and lake, the high school, The Cat Club, and two stores that sold porcelain collectible Unicorns.

Finally, Rory felt like she had showed them everything.

“Well, I for one am hungry and ready for coffee and to sit down, how about everyone else?” She asked. They all nodded in agreement.

Rory ushered them towards Luke and the bell chimed as they entered, announcing their presence. The diner was relatively empty and Luke was nowhere to be seen.

Rory pointed her mom and grandparents in the direction of a table and then she headed to the counter.

“Lu-uke? Where are you?”

A muffled voice came from the store room, “Rory, is that you? I’ll be out in a minute, ran out of my special pickles.”

“Oh, dirty,” Lorelai said and giggled along with Rory as both Richard and Emily gave them looks. Rory grabbed three menus and sat down at the table just as she caught Emily wiping her seat off with a napkin. A few minutes later, Luke appeared at the table with his order pad.

“Hey, Luke, this is my mom, Lorelai Gilmore, and my grandparents, Richard and Emily Gilmore.”

Luke smiled politely, “Ms., Mr., Mrs. Gilmore, it’s nice to meet you,” he said, with a nod at each person as he said their title. “What can I get everyone today?”

Emily was mumbling to Richard something about Caesar salads. She turned towards Luke, “Luke, how is your Caesar salad dressing prepared?”

“I’ll have to call Paul Newman and ask him,” Luke replied.

“Well,” replied Emily, “I’ll have a Cobb salad.”

“I’ll have the baked chicken,” said Richard.

“I’ll have a hamburger and French fries,” added Lorelai.

“Cheeseburger with that special cheese and onion rings. Oh, and you’d better bring a pot of coffee because if there’s anything the Gilmore women have in common, it’s our love of coffee.”

“Great,” Luke muttered under his breath. “Anything for you to drink today Mr. Gilmore?”

“I’ll just have an iced tea, thank you.”

“I’ll be back in a few,” said Luke.

“So that’s Luke, huh,” Lorelai directed to Rory, “not quite what I pictured.”

“Oh really,” Rory said, intrigued, “what did you have in mind?”

“Well, a bit younger I guess was the first thing, but I dunno… So, what’s this special cheese I heard you say?” Lorelai asked a bit louder.

“I’m actually not sure,” Rory began, “He won’t tell me. I asked him to surprise me with a different kind of cheese one day and he put this one kind on and it was so good so now I ask for it as a special treat or on bad days.”

The conversation was directed towards something concerning the DAR and Rory spaced off, thinking of her own things when Luke suddenly appeared with their food. They all sat munching quietly for a few minutes, hungry from their walking tour.

Emily and Lorelai got into a heated “discussion” about some comment Lorelai had made regarding a woman in the DAR and Richard and Rory were simply eating their food, ignoring them, each in their own thoughts. After finishing up and paying, Richard insisted Rory go and pick something out at the bookstore before he and Emily had to leave, which was soon, due to a charity event that evening. Lorelai was planning on staying the night again and leaving the next day, so after hitting the bookstore, they headed to the video store to rent more movies for that evening.

Rory was glad to have Lorelai over; it had given her a break from the seriousness of the week and also from thinking of the moment that had occurred between her and Luke that morning. They giggled and stayed up late watching more cheesy 80’s movies.

In the morning, Rory once again got up early and headed to work. After a few minutes debate, she headed once again to Luke’s for morning coffee, deciding that her need for caffeine was greater than her slight nervousness to be around him.

After handing her coffee to her, Luke looked like he was going to say something to her. He hesitated.

“Rory? How old is your mom? I couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t look that old….”

“Oh, mom, she's 39, almost 40. Why?” She asked, dreading the answer.

“39? How? What?” He stammered.

“Yeah, she had me when she was 16. Is that an issue?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, that part, no... Rory, I'm older than your mother. That's...that's just... I mean, I’m just…”

“How old are you?” She asked, surprised.

“41 last month.”

“Oh, you're not that much older than her. Don’t worry. I'll let you in on a little secret though,” she said as she lowered her voice and leaned in close to his ear, “I don't care, and you sure as hell don't look 41,” she winked at him as she started to back away. He blushed furiously and she walked out of the diner with a triumphant smile on her face, not believing she’d had the guts to do that. ‘Well, I guess you’re taking this whole ‘new life’ thing to heart’ she said to herself.


	13. Chapter 13: All Kinds of Talks

_Chapter 13: All Kinds of Talks_

 

“I could teach you, you know,” Rory said out of the blue on Tuesday night.

“Teach me what?” Luke asked, looking up from the receipts he was going through.

“Italian. It's not too hard. I mean, if you're interested,” she mumbled  the last part quietly.

He looked startled and almost panicked. “No!” He exclaimed harshly. She looked taken aback. His face softened. “I mean, I’m not, I don’t know, I’m …” his voice wavered and stopped. Opening his mouth, he looked like he was going to speak again, but didn’t. Then, finally, he did.

“Non li ho bisogno di insegnarli.” _(I do not need you to teach me.)_

Rory looked at him, shocked and confused.

“I don’t remember too much anymore,” Luke began, and sat down on a stool next to her with a heavy sigh. “My mom was Italian. She taught me when I was little, it was just something special between the two of us. My dad knew a little bit, but could never keep up with us, my sister was never interested. I was fluent by the time I was 8. Then, well,” Luke faltered a bit, “then she got sick and died that next year, and I haven’t spoken it since. But I’ve tried not to forget”

Rory instinctively put her hand on his and squeezed.

“It might be nice, though, to start it up again. Maybe we could practice and you can help me remember. I’m sure I’m not very good anymore. I mean, hell, it’s been what 32 years? More than your life time,” he said with a forced laugh.

“Amerei esercitarmi in con voi. In qualsiasi momento, lo avete lasciato appena sapere. La comunicazione giusta ed io di inizio sono là con voi, Per voi.” She said in a soft voice. _(I would love to practice with you. Anytime, you just let me know. Just start talking and I am there with you, for you.)_

He looked up at her and smiled sadly.

“Grazie,” was all he said.

She stood up, smoothed out her skirt and headed towards the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

Luke seemed in a better mood the following night, not so down about the mention of his mother, so Rory decided to bring Italian up on her own. She had been sitting at the counter for a few hours after work and it was near closing time for him.

“Sono andare giusto comunicare e vedremo se potete continuare e rispondere. Come quel suono?” _(I am just going to talk and we will see if you can keep up and respond. How does that sound?)_

“Buon. Proverò a continuare. Non posso conoscere abbastanza parole tuttavia.” _(Good. I will try to keep up. I may not know enough words however.)_

“Iniziamo semplice. Come era il vostro giorno?” _(Let’s start simple. How was your day?)_

“Il mio giorno era buono. Niente di insolito.  Kirk stava essendo Kirk. Nessun Taylor comunque. Come era il vostro giorno?” _(My day was good. Nothing unusual.  Kirk was being Kirk. No Taylor though. How was your day?)_

“Busy per la maggior parte del divisorio. Realmente gradisco lavorare qui comunque. Ritengo depositato dentro, anche. Ritiene come questo è domestico.,” she said with a smile. _(Busy for the most part. I really like working here though. I feel settled in, too. It feels like this is home.)_

He smiled back at her. Their eyes locked again. But this time Rory vowed she wouldn’t run off like last time. Instead she simply repeated her last word in a whisper, “domestico.”

They sat there for another few minutes, not talking, simply being there. Rory finally stood up, “We both have to get up early, I should get going. I’ll see you for morning coffee and then dinner though?”

“Of course, wouldn’t want you to starve,” he said with a smirk.

She laughed, grabbed her briefcase and headed out the door.

 

Lorelai had decided to surprise her daughter by showing up in Stars Hollow on Thursday. She missed seeing her and talking to her constantly. Plus, she wanted more of the wonderful coffee from Luke’s Diner. ‘Seeing some more of Luke wouldn’t be a downside either’ she thought to herself, ‘Emily would never approve of him’ which made her smile even more mischievously. Lorelai had parked her car and was headed into the diner. She walked purposefully, with a slight swing to her hips. She strode up to the counter and plopped herself down on the stool. Luke emerged a second later and headed towards her with a pile of receipts in his hand. He pulled out his order pad and pen.

“What can I get you?” He asked gruffly, without looking up.

“How about a smile?” She asked coyly.

That voice sounded vaguely familiar…his eyes jumped up.

“Oh, Ms. Gilmore. How are you? What brings you to our neighborhood?” His voice had lost a bit of its edge, but not completely.

She laughed, “Did you seriously just call me Ms?? We’re the same age there Luke. Anyway, I thought I’d surprise Rory. And I’ve been dieing for some more of your coffee,” she said with a wink.

“One death cup, coming right up,” he said with a smirk, thinking of Rory’s reaction every time he said that.

“You’re an angel,” she sighed after taking a drink.

He almost laughed, “Now that’s one that I haven’t heard before.” He leaned over the counter towards her. She smiled slightly. “Do you want to order?” He asked her.

“Oh, I should probably wait for Ror.”

“That’s okay, I know what she’ll want. She’ll probably be about two more minutes,” he said with one of his rare smiles.

“Wow, she must come in here a lot if you know what she wants,” ‘dirty’ she thought to herself, and then, suddenly, it hit her—was something going on between her daughter and this man she had so blatantly been flirting with? She cleared her throat and decided she definitely would have to talk to Rory later. She put on a smile, “I’ll just have whatever she’s having.”

He nodded and walked to the kitchen.

Unbeknownst to them Rory had just watched their little exchange. For some reason she hadn’t liked the way her mom had been acting towards Luke. But, Luke’s lack of reaction pleasantly surprised her. She walked into the diner with a smile on her face.

“Mom, hi! What are you doing here?” She asked, hugging her.

“Oh, just though I’d surprise you—I missed you! Plus, I couldn’t get this great coffee out of my mind.”

“Yeah, it’ll do that to you,” Rory replied with a smile. Just then Luke reappeared. He and Rory smiled brightly at each other.

“Ciao, Luke.”

“Ciao, Rory. Come siete?”

“Sono buono.” _(I am good)_

“Como ere il vostro giorno?” _(How was your day?)_

“Ragionevolmente alesando. Ora migliori. Come era il vostro?” _(Reasonably boring. Better now. How was your day?)_

“Stressante, ma è buono da vedere voi ed il mom, quel lo fa molto più meglio. Avete messo nel mio ordine usuale? _(Stressful, but it is good to see you and mom, that makes it much better. Did you put in my usual order?)_

“Si. Sarà aspetta in alcuni minuti.” _(Yes. It will just be another minute)._

Luke disappeared back into the kitchen to get their food. Lorelai is staring at Rory with a very shocked look on her face mixed with worry.

“He’ll be right back with our….” She saw Lorelai’s face, “Mom! What’s wrong?”

Lorelai shakes herself from her daze, “You guys were talking in Italian…? Luke speaks Italian?”

“A little bit. His mom was Italian and taught him when he was little. He hasn’t spoken it in years he told me, so I’ve been helping refresh his memory. He’s actually really good, he has a good accent. Maybe next time Grandpa visits I’ll have helped him get even better and the three of us can practice.”

Lorelai looked like she was about to say something but just then Luke emerged with their plates. He set them down with a nod and went off to check on the other customers.

Lorelai and Rory made small talk as they finished their meals. Lorelai couldn’t stay the night but she wanted to stay for awhile and catch up so they opted to head back to Rory’s apartment.

“Arrivederci, Luke.” _(Goodbye, Luke.)_

 “Arrivederci, Rory.”

 “I li vedrà domani per i miei usuals.” _(I will see you tomorrow for my usuals.)_

 “Sì. Allora li vedrò, non può attendere.” _(Yes. I will see you then, I cannot wait.)_

They exchanged smiles and Rory and Lorelai headed out the door. Linking arms, they headed across the town square and up to her apartment. After Rory set all her stuff down and started a pot of coffee she went to change out of her work clothes. Returning to the living room she hopped onto the couch with her mom and flipped on the TV.

“How are you mom? What have you been up to in the four days that I haven’t seen you?”

“Oh not too much. Missing you, ignoring your grandmother; you know, the usual. Ohh, I did have another date with ‘Mr. Dirty’ as you called him.”

“Really?! How’d it go? I thought he was ‘Emily-approved’ so out the window?”

“Yeah, well, we actually had some fun. I don’t know, he’s nice, not sure if its going anywhere, but hell, I’m old, I’m lonely, might as well try it out.”

“Ah, mom, you aren’t old.”

“Speaking of old,” Lorelai began slowly. Rory’s head snapped up and looked at her before quickly looking away. “Luke seems nice.”

“Um, yeah, sure, he is. So how was work this week?” Rory asked quickly. She didn’t feel like discussing Luke with her mother, especially since she didn’t even know what she was thinking about him, and the fact that he was the same age as Lorelai.

“It was fine, normal, nothing exciting at all. But you aren’t getting off that easy. I saw the two of you together.”

Rory sighed, knowing her mom wouldn’t leave it alone.

“Honestly, I don’t know. Being here, I’ve felt different, unique. I just walked right up to him and talked to him, I don’t do that, you know me. We get along, we make jokes, we talk, we’ve kind of bonded over this Italian thing, and I look at him sometimes and just smile. But he’s 41; I mean it’s the same age difference as you and me, as me and dad. I’m sure he’s just being nice to me, being as I am new and don’t know many people.”

“I don’t know about that hon. I saw the way you two were together. I’m not sure if I like it but I think he’s feeling something, too.”

Rory sighed, “I just try not to think, it’s easier that’s way.”

“Hey, there you go, that’s my life motto!” Lorelai exclaimed with a smile. “I can’t stay too much longer, but I just wanted to see you and make sure you were doing okay. Not working too hard, which by the way, I can tell you are.”

“Don’t worry, I’m still making enough time for coffee and movies, just like you taught me.”

“That’s a good girl.”

“Do you want to walk over and get ice cream and then you can head out? I don’t want you to stay too late and I’ve got one piece of work I still have to finish up.”

“Heck yeah, like I would ever turn down ice cream, I am in fact Lorelai Gilmore.”

“No way, me too!” Rory said with a laugh.

“Well I guess that means we both have to have ice cream,” Lorelai said with a giggle.

 


	14. Chapter 14: The Next Move

Chapter 14: The Next Move

 

Six o’clock on Friday rolled around and Rory was relieved to be exiting the paper office. She had worked hard the last few days and was ready for a relaxing evening, she had seen an ad in the paper that the Black White and Read was showing a movie so she had decided to go after eating dinner at Luke’s. However, as she passed the bookstore she decided to take a small detour to help improve her mood.

Forty-five minutes, $200, and two bags full later, she walked back out of the store. This time she had a huge smile on her face. She was carefully balancing the overflowing canvas bags, along with her briefcase and purse as she headed to the diner.

Stumbling up to the counter she plopped down with an exaggerated sigh and set all of her stuff down. Luke watched her set all of her stuff down and gave her a smirk.

“Were you afraid Andrew wasn’t doing too well and you needed to give business a boom?”

“Ha ha,” she said dryly, “I needed a little pick me up, it’s been a long week.”

“Your usual?”

“Yep. Thanks.”

She read one of her new books while she waited for her food to come, and while eating it. The diner began to thin out and she was finishing her pie. She had opted for the late movie, 9:00, so she still had about a half hour before she had to leave.

“Hey Luke.”

“Yes?” He asked from the kitchen.

“Come talk to me, I still have half an hour to kill.”

“Jeez, thanks for the confidence booster.”

“Anytime. So anything new?” She asked

“Actually, yeah. My nephew is coming to stay with me for a while. I haven’t seen him in a few months. He’s a writer, you’d probably like him, and apparently he needs some ‘inspiration’ for his new book and can’t seem to find it in Philadelphia.”

“Really? What’s he written? Anything I would’ve heard of?”

“I actually read it. I don’t read too much so that says something. It’s called ‘The Subsect’. I have like eight extra copies laying around, I could go get you one.”

“I would like that. It’s me your talking to, I never turn down a book,” she said with a smile.

He headed back behind the curtain and came down a few minutes later with a book in his hand. He smiled as he handed it to her.

“You’re proud of him, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. He lived with me for awhile you know. Was pretty messed up when he got here, still pretty messed up when he left. But I feel like I helped him a bit you know, maybe at least gave him a nudge in the right direction.”

“How old is he?”

“Actually, maybe around your age… how old are you?”

“23, well 24 soon I guess.”

He looked away from her, “Yeah, right about the same age then.”

She began talking again, babbling on about the other latest book she had read. He still wasn’t looking at her; listening but not looking. She knew; knew that it had struck him, too, about their ages. A lump of sadness hit her. It was then, though, that she realized that, perhaps, if the age difference was bothering him as well, that he, too, had maybe felt something between them. Maybe she would just have to show him that it didn’t bother her—because it didn’t, right?

Looking at her watch she knew it was time to head off. Wanting to leave on a good note she started talking.

“Abbiamo avuti un colloquio piacevole. Grazie per il libro. Mi arresterò domani vicino e li vedrò per sicuro.” (We had a nice talk. Thank you for the book. I will stop by tomorrow and see you for sure.)

He smiled and, finally, looked up at her as she was trying to pick up all her things, “Why don’t you leave your new books here, you can pick them up tomorrow after you work in the morning. Take one for tonight, because I know you’ll need it,” he said with a smirk, “but I’ll keep them here for you, then you can at least walk without worrying.”

She smiled, “Grazie. Li vedrò per un pranzo ritardato?” (Thanks. I’ll see you for a late lunch?)

“Suona buon. Vedali domani.” (Sounds good. See you in the morning.)

“Buona notte.” (Good night)

“Buona notte.”

She went to the movie and relaxed, enjoying having nothing to do but laugh. Heading home she realized how tired she was and opted not to finish the book she had started at the diner earlier. Glancing at the diner as she crossed the square towards her building she noticed the light was on in his apartment above the diner. Smiling slightly she hurried the rest of the way home and headed straight to bed.

Waking up the next morning she felt well-rested. It was slightly after eight. She got up and made coffee before climbing in the shower and getting ready for a short day of work.

It was a slow news day and Rory was easily able to catch up on everything and even get some of her articles for the coming week prepped and started. She was smiling and humming as she cleaned up her stuff and prepared to head out. It was only a little after two but she was hungry, and had to pick up her books, so she walked over to Luke’s.

“My usual,” she said with a smile as she sat down at the counter. Luke turned around, coffee mug in hand, and began to pour her a cup.

“You look happy today.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. The sun is shining, I got all kinds of work done, I have coffee; the world just seems right.”

He just looked at her strangely and disappeared into the kitchen. She laughed to herself. ‘I probably do sound pretty crazy.’

She ate in silence, happily munching on her burger and onion rings. When she was done eating Luke approached her slowly, looking a bit nervous.

“I’ve got your books, is now good?”

She brightened, “Yeah, anytime is a good time for books.”

“Great. Caesar, I’ll be back!” He yelled towards the kitchen.

“Um, here, follow me,” he said nervously. She looked at him strangely; they were walking out the front door and around the corner of the store towards the back. When they turn the back corner Luke slows down and Rory stops dead in her tracks. There is a bookcase sitting on the grass. A beautiful bookcase stained a light mahogany, with designs carved into the wood. It was similar to the two bookcases already in her apartment, but it was slightly smaller and much more beautiful.

“Luke? What is…? Where did you …? Why?” She managed to stutter out.

“Well, I um…” he started nervously, “I noticed you didn’t have enough room for all your books so I thought you needed another shelf.”

“You made this?” She asked, amazed. He nodded.

“Luke, it’s beautiful. No one’s ever made me anything before,” and she impulsively hugged him. He blushed, but smiled.

“I can bring it over whenever you want.”

“Well, as much as I want to say right now, I’m so excited, I know you don’t like people talking about you and this might raise some gossip, so how about tonight sometime after the dinner crowd and then you can stay for another movie, too, if you’d like,” she added shyly, testing the waters.

He nodded, “that sounds good. I can probably close up at 8:30 and bring it over then. You can take your books now if you think you can get them all.”

“Oh yeah, ‘never buy more than you can carry,’ that’s my philosophy. Thought sometimes it’s hard to abide by, but it helps keep my bank account in line,” she said with a grin. “Will you need help carrying it?”

“Oh probably not, but you could meet me in front of your building at, say, 9:00, and help hold doors for me.”

“That I can handle,” she smiled warmly, “thanks again. I’m going to take these books back home now thought because I still have to go to the market. Darn, I’m going to have to either cut my list in half or take two trips,” she added, more to herself.

“Do you want my help?”

“What?” She asked, startled, “Oh, well, um, it would be nice. Yes.”

“Okay, how about you run your books home and I am going to go shower so I don’t smell like grease and coffee anymore and I’ll meet you back in front in 15?”

She smiled, “But grease and coffee is the best smell in the world! I’ll meet you here in 20, I don’t run, its part of the Gilmore Girls Code.”

Twenty-two minutes later Rory was back at the front of the diner with her purse and her grocery list. Luke was waiting for her.

“Thanks for doing this. I’ve been trying to go to the store sporadically so this doesn’t happen, but with my mom here, twice, and work this week I just haven’t gotten around to it.”

“It’s really not a problem.”

Once in the market Rory grabbed two baskets, one for each of them, and motioned for Luke to follow her as she headed off towards the aisles.  She grabbed and placed in the baskets: bread, milk, pop tarts, chips, lunch meat, a few condiments, multiple bags of candy, two frozen dinners, a box of macaroni and cheese, two containers of ice cream, yogurt, three different kinds of cereal, three large containers of coffee, a twelve-pack of soda, and a six-pack of beer (this had not been on her list but added it mentally since Luke was coming over). She then paused and tilted her head, racking her brain to see if she had forgotten anything.

Luke looked at her for a moment, awed and horrified. “Are you going to get anything healthy? This is like a heart attack waiting to happen.”

She giggled, “Hey, I was pretty proud of myself for getting the yogurt, that’s healthy for me. But go ahead, grab a few things that will be good for me, and I promise you I will at least try them.”

He smirked. Quickly he grabbed a head of lettuce, apples and carrots, the three closest things he could find.

“Hey, you know what… what are you doing for dinner?” He asked.

“Well, nothing was planned, probably one of those lovely frozen dinners sitting in your basket.”

“Let me make you dinner. I’ll do something pseudo-healthy but that you’ll still enjoy.”

She looked surprised, but happy, “You don’t have to get back to the diner?”

“Nah, you know what, they can handle it. Lane’s back and Caesar’s there, I can take the rest of the day off. Besides I think I would do anything to get you to eat something other than a cheeseburger,” he said with a smile.

“Wow, that would defiantly classify as a ‘dirty’ in my mother’s world. Okay,” she said with a nod, “dinner sounds good. Why don’t you go grab what you need and then we’ll head to the checkout.”

She followed him around the store until he had everything he needed. He grabbed many normal things, but also a few ingredients Rory couldn’t identify.  She made a face as he grabbed a few more vegetables and Luke laughed at her.

Once Rory had paid for all the groceries (with a few protests for Luke, who attempted to pay for the dinner groceries, “Nonsense” Rory had argued, “You are cooking for me so it’s the least I can do.”) they loaded themselves up with the bags and trudged across the square towards her apartment.

Rory was excited as she hovered in the kitchen, watching Luke cook. She kept trying to help and do little things, but Luke kept shooing her out. Finally, after being kicked out for the fourth time, Rory headed into the living room and began sorting through her books. She now had to re-divide them into three bookshelves and organize them from there.

She was so deep in concentration she failed to notice Luke sneak out the apartment door. Only when he came back in, carrying the bookcase, did she look up.

“Oh, hey. You could have asked me, I was supposed to help you with the doors. Did you make it ok?”

He gave her a weird look, “Yes, I made it up ok. It wasn’t that hard. Besides, you were so engrossed I didn’t have the heart to say anything to you. I knew I had awhile, the thing had to cook for 35 minutes so I was good.” She smiled at him and looked around at her living room.

“Now where do you want me to put it?” He asked.

“Well,” she began, thinking, “let’s put it up against this wall here, and move the TV stand to right over there. I think that should work.”

As he carried the shelf over to her appointed area she went to the refrigerator and grabbed them each a beer. She walked back into the living room and he was staring at the shelf to make sure it wasn’t crooked. Stopping short, she smiled, still not believing that he had made her this beautiful shelf. He turned around and caught her staring and looked at her questioningly.

“Sorry, I still just can’t get over how amazing that shelf is and that you made it for me. Thank you, again.”

He looked away. “I think the foods just about ready, should we go eat?”

“Sounds good,” she said.

They sat down to the table after Rory had set it and began eating. Even though Rory could tell there were multiple different vegetables in it, she was surprised to find she liked. They made small talk, eating and talking comfortably and easily. After they were done with the meal, they did the dishes and Rory grabbed them each another beer.

“Movie time?” She asked with a smile.

He laughed at her, “You must really like your movies.”

“Yeah, its something my mom and I would do a lot growing up. It was always such a big deal for us, we would get like four movies and tons of junk food and hide the whole affair from my grandparents,” she laughed, remembering such incidents. “Do you want to pick out a movie?”

“Oh no,” he mumbled, “it doesn’t matter to me, pick away.”

“Yeay! Thanks!”

She picked out ‘Office Space’, one she figured he would enjoy. And they both did, spending a majority of the movie laughing. It was still early by the time it got over, barely even 10, so Rory suggested watching another one. This time she picked out something more for her, ‘Roman Holiday’.

“This is my favorite old movie of all times. Mom always makes fun of me, but I love watching it.”

“Well, I’ve never seen it, though that really shouldn’t surprise you considering how few movies I have seen.”

“So what do you like to do?” Rory asked.

“Well. I work a lot so there isn’t always a lot of other time. I watch baseball when I can. I like to build things. Occasionally I’ll talk to someone, if forced” he added with a laugh.

She smiled at him, “I read. Sometimes I think that if it were possible that would be all I would do. Life doesn’t need to be complex, just like you made it sound.”

Hitting play on the remote control, they settled in. Not far into the movie, Rory his pause and got up to get snacks and the lasts of the beers. When sitting back down, she deliberately sat closer to Luke than she had been before she got up. She got herself comfortable and they went back to watching the movie. Rory was curled up on the cushion next to Luke and he was in the corner of the couch, leaning in towards her.

She had fallen asleep on the couch again. This time, she woke up slowly and found herself gazing up at Luke. His gaze shifted from the TV down towards her. Suddenly, without thinking she was tilting her head up towards him. Within seconds her lips had brushed against his. Startled at what she had done, he tensed up. She looked at him, with sleep still in her eyes, questioning him as to what he was thinking. She leaned in again, slightly, and waited for his reaction. He was staring at her intently, his brain working harder than ever trying to decipher what he was thinking and feeling. She saw him hesitating and started to pull back slightly when his hands reached out. They touched her cheeks. And suddenly their lips were touching again, this time with much more force and passion. After a few minutes they pulled apart and stared at one another.

“Wow,” was the only word Rory could get out.

 

 

 

 


	15. Chapter 15: Reunions of Different Kinds

Chapter 15: Reunions of Different Kinds

 

                Luke and Rory stared at each other. A small smile played at the corner of her lips. They leaned in again. This kiss was slow and gentle, explorative. Their hands found each others and intertwined. The kiss quickly became more passionate though.

                Slowly, Luke pulled away. He glanced at the TV, where the credits from the movie were now tolling, and the clock, which read 12:03.

                “It’s getting late, I should get going.”

                “Yeah, probably,” Rory agreed, reluctantly. They both stood up and headed towards the door.

                “ ‘Night,” he said and leaned in for a short kiss.

                She smiled and closed the door behind him.

                They both fell asleep quickly and easily that night, with matching smiles on their faces.

 

                Rory woke up with the same smile on her face. As she was getting ready for the day, however, it quickly turned to a frown. She had been planning to go to Luke’s for coffee until she thought more about it. Luke had left so suddenly the night before—what if he had regretted it? How was she supposed to act around him? He hated the towns people’s attention, but her kissing him would be sure to draw attention. Her timid side took over and she decided to delay seeing him, at least for now. His nephew is coming today anyway, she told herself, trying to feel less like a wimp.

                She made her own coffee and headed out the door to work. In order to keep her mind busy she worked harder than usual on her pieces, re-researching and re-editing them time and time again. She barely broke for lunch, just ate her hastily packed sandwich at her desk while perusing some sources. She had arrived at about 11 that morning and worked until after 7 when she finally forced herself to go home. On the way home, across the square, she avoided looking at the diner, and, once there, tried to also avoid the new piece of furniture that seemed to watch her as she hurried about the apartment. Opening the freezer she grabbed a TV dinner, warmed it up and headed back to her bedroom where she read until 9:30 when she opted for an early bed time.

                Luke had seen Rory hustle across the square both to and from work on Sunday. He was unsure of what to think when, each time, she neither stopped in, nor even looked in the direction of, the diner. He came to the conclusion that she was avoiding him because she was embarrassed about the night before and wished it hadn’t happened. He huffed around the reminder of the day until Jess arrived late that evening.

                “Hey Uncle Luke,” Jess said, announcing his presence in the diner.

                “Jess,” Luke stated simply, a small smile on his lips, “good to see you.”

                “Thanks for letting me crash here.”

                “Hey, you promised to work, how could I say no?” Luke half-joked. He was finishing wiping down the counter. “I’ve had a long day so I’m going to bed. Feel free to stay up, just no stealing gnomes or anything. Your room is ready for you.”

                “Gee, Uncle Luke, thanks for your vote of confidence in my maturity. I’m tired too though, long day and too much driving.”

                They headed upstairs and went their separate ways. Luke fell asleep, exhausted, not looking forward to the following day.

                Monday dawned a beautiful day. Rory’s alarm woke her to a sun-filled bedroom. Rory groaned. Even the weather was mocking her today. The first thing she did was start a large pot of coffee, she had the feeling she was going to need it. As she got dressed she tried to force herself not to think about anything but getting dressed and getting to work. Once there, she concentrated solely on her work yet again. Pushing herself story after story she refused to allow herself time to stop and think. Five o’clock was nearing and finally Bill came in and said something.

                “Rory, whatever it is, why don’t you go home and deal with it. You’re working too hard. You’ve done enough work for at least a few days. Leave, we’ll see you in the morning.”

                Rory looked like she was about to protest but just sighed. She was starving and caffeine deprived. Mustering up her courage, she decided to go to Luke’s. She knew she needed to face him, and the sooner she got this humiliation out of the way (by now she had convinced herself that he didn’t feel the same way towards her as she did towards him) the better.

                Holding her head up, she walked through the door and straight up to the counter. There is a man standing behind the counter who is not Luke.

                “Hi. Coffee please.”

                “Sure. Anything else for you?”

                “Not right now. Thanks. Oh!” She exclaims, as she realizes who he must be, “You must be Jess, right?”

                He gives her a strange look. “Yeah. How’d you know?”

                “Luke told me you were coming. I’m Rory. I read your book. Luke gave me a copy. I really liked it, very well-written, you have a great style. And now I’m babbling,” she added with a laugh.

                He smirked at her, “So you read it?”

                “Yeah, it really was good. I work at the Daily Gazette, I was thinking of doing a piece on you, would you be interested?”

                He leaned in slightly towards her, over the counter. Unbeknownst to them, Luke was watching their conversation from behind the curtain. When he saw Jess do this, what he takes as an obvious sign of flirting, his face fell slightly and he turned around and huffed up the stairs.

                Rory’s eye caught sight of him as he turned around.

                “Excuse me,” she said to Jess quickly and hurried up the stairs after Luke. This caused both Jess and numerous customers in the diner to stare at the curtain strangely, as if it held the answers they were looking for.

                Rory caught up with Luke at the top of the stairs. She smiled at him, glad to see him after a day without doing so. He simply stared at her, not reacting.

                “Hi.” She said quietly, smiling.

                He grunted and turned slightly away from her as her face fell. He ushered her through the door and into the opening of his apartment.

                “You know,” he began, heatedly, “you didn’t have to ignore me just because you were embarrassed about the other night. Just tell me and get it out of the way and we can forget about it!”

                She started at him, shocked, “Luke, you really think I was embarrassed about it?! You’re the one who high-tailed it out of my apartment after we kissed. I didn’t know how you were feeling. I didn’t know how to act around you without putting you on the spot with Babette and Miss Patty. Non posso credere che abbiate pensato quello! Ero quello che li ha baciati in primo luogo! Flirted con voi di più di ho mai prima! Li gradisco! Non avete capito quello?” She was practically screaming at this point. (I cannot believe you thought that! I was the one that kissed you first! I flirted with you more than I ever have before! I like you! Did you not understand that?”

                He stared at her, shocked. Instead of saying anything, he simply leaned in and kissed her. As their arms wrapped around each other, he pushed her up against the door. They pulled apart after a few minutes, breathing heavily.

                “I didn’t mean to leave without clarifying things the other night. I’ll fix it right now. How about we go out this week? Dinner and a movie, maybe in Hartford or Woodbridge though. I like you too, but I’m not sure what to do about them,” he gestured in the general direction of the downstairs.

                Her face erupted in a smile. “When?”

                “Soon. Does Wednesday work for you?”

                “Yes,” she said with a smile, “Wednesday it is.”

                “I’ll pick you up at 7.”

                “I’ll go back down first,” she said, and gave him a quick kiss.

                A large smile was on her face as she appeared back in the diner from behind the curtain. She settled back onto her stool. Jess was at the counter staring at her with a mix of curiosity and embarrassment.

                “I’ll have a cheeseburger and chili fries and some fresh coffee,” Rory said to him.

                Just then Luke appeared from behind the curtain, also wearing a large smile. Jess, and half the diner, stared at him in shock. It was strange to see Luke so happy. They all watched as Luke and Rory exchanged a glance and smiled even more.

                “Are you having your usual?” Luke asked her, quietly.

                “Chili fries today. And can I please have the special cheese? I had to go all yesterday without any good coffee and it’s been awful,” she whined.

                “Yeah, but I’m bringing you a salad, too.”

                She made a face, “Benissimo, ma soltanto per voi,” she said, just loud enough for him to hear. (Fine, but only for you.)

                He smiled again. He felt cheesy, he could hardly remember ever smiling this much, but he couldn’t stop himself.

                Rory happily are her dinner, making conversation with both Luke and Jess whenever they had a break. When she was done she decided to go home and get some sleep, the last tow days had been exhausting.

                Jess was standing near her at the counter, “Bye, Jess, I’ll probably see you tomorrow. It was nice meeting you. Do you know where Luke disappeared off to?”

                “Yeah, you too. Check the storeroom,” he said and she looked at him blankly. He pointed her in the right direction. She peeked in the door and saw him standing with his back to her. Quietly she sneaked up to him from behind and wrapped her arms around his waist. He tensed immediately and jerked around. When he saw that it was her he smiled and relaxed against her. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned in for a kiss. After a few minutes they broke apart, both smiling.

                “Vedrò che domain,” he whispered to her. (I will see you tomorrow.)

                “Io sarete quello che elemosino il caffè,” she responded with a smile. (I will be the one begging for coffee.)

                “Come sempre.” (As Always.)

                “Buona notte,” she said.

               

                Tuesday passed without incident for Rory. She stopped at Luke’s for coffee before heading to work, spent the majority of the day getting stories off the wire and researching for a story regarding the possibility of repaving some of the streets of Stars Hollow (She was sure that was a topic that would be brought up at the town meeting that week), and headed off a bit later than usual to dinner at Luke’s. Both Jess and Luke were there again and Rory struck up a conversation with Jess about his new book, trying to pry some information out of him.

                “I could do some early editing for you. Be your first critique.”

                He gave her a look that told her to stay out of it.

                “Oh fine,” she sighed. “Luke!? Where are you?”

                He appeared from out of the store room and Rory skipped a breath. He wasn’t wearing flannel today, just a simple tee-shirt that showed off his muscles and the rest of his upper body. He looked really good. When he looked up he caught her staring at him and smirked at her.

                “Like what you see?” He asked quietly to her.

                “You have no idea. Meet me upstairs in a few,” she replied quietly, and then, a bit louder, “hey, Luke, can I use your bathroom?”

                “Sure,” he said and pointed her in the direction of the upstairs. She walked up the stairs slowly, adjusting her skirt and hair as she did. Once in his apartment, she removed the jacket of her suit and ran a hand through her hair. She was standing in the middle of the room when he opened the door. He stared at her for a minute, transfixed, before walking up to her. Putting his hands gently on her face, he pulled her flush with him. Her lips crashed against his and she moaned at the contact.

                “You look really good today,” she said, running her hands up and down his arms, still pressed up against him.

                “Oh really?” He asked with a smirk, intrigued.

                “Yeah,” she said, giving him a lingering kiss, “but I should get going home, I’ve got work to do.”

                “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

                “I’ll be in for coffee in the morning and then I’ll see you at 7.”

                They both smiled at each other as Rory turned to head back downstairs


	16. Chapter 16: A Perfect First

Chapter 16: A Perfect First

 

Wednesday dawned yet another beautiful day. She got ready quickly in the morning, not showering since she knew she would do that prior to their date that evening. Before heading to work she stopped into Luke’s quickly and grabbed a to-go cup of coffee. She hustled through her work day, hoping to get our early to have more time to get ready for their date that evening.

Finally, four o’clock rolled around and Rory was finishing up her last edit of her last story. She sighed happily, picked up her things and headed home. After making some coffee, taking a hot shower and drying off she headed to the bedroom. It was 5:45 and she had been standing in front of her closet for 20 minutes trying to decide what to wear. She picked up her phone and dialed.

“Hello?”

“I have nothing to wear!”

“What? Rory?”

“Yes, mother, who else? I have nothing to wear!”

“For what?”

“I have a date.”

“With…? Oh—old guy!?”

“Mom! His name is Luke and he’s not old, unless you’re old, too.”

“How did this happen? Last I knew you weren’t sure about anything… What does this mean?”

“Mother! I’ll give you details later but right now I need your fashion expertise!”

Lorelai sighed, “All right? Where are you going?”

“Dinner and maybe a movie. But he wouldn’t tell me where.”

“So dressy but casual….hmmm… do you still have that little black dress I left in your possession?” She said mischievously.

“You know I don’t like wearing that dress, it’s too….too much!”

“Are you calling me slutty?”

“So not the point right now mother.”

“Fine, but we’re discussing it later,” Lorelai said in mock anger, “Wear that swishy black skirt you have with that light blue sleeveless cardigan blousy thing. Oh! And your black strappy pump shoes—I love those!”

“You’re a genius. Okay, I am going to get going. I promise I’ll call you sometime tomorrow and we’ll talk about everything.”

“All right, have fun, defiantly don’t do anything I would do!”

“Ha, ha, goodnight mother.”

 

Rory was ready and waiting by 6:50, both nervous and excited. It had been quite awhile since she’d been on a first date. Right at 7 there was a knock at the door.

Opening the door she found Luke standing on the other side, dressed up slightly and also looking both nervous and excited. Rory had never seen Luke out of his jeans and flannel—she couldn’t help thinking to herself how good he looked.

“Hi,” they both said at the same time. He smiled and she laughed.

“Let me grab my purse and then I’ll be ready.”

She locked the door behind them and they headed down the stairs. Luke’s truck was at the curb. They quickly and carefully headed towards it and climbed in, careful for the watchful eyes of townspeople. He started the truck and they headed off.

“Where are we going?” Rory asked him.

“I found this small authentic Italian restaurant in Woodward, thought it seemed appropriate,” he glanced at her carefully.

Her face broke into a huge smile, “It sounds perfect.”

They talked casually as they rode along, mostly about work and what had been happening in the town, the town meeting that was scheduled for the next day being the main gist of that.

They pulled up outside the small restaurant, “bistro sul angolo.”

“This looks like its right out of Italy,” Rory exclaimed as they got out of the truck. Rory linked her arm through his and they headed up to the front door.

A young woman greeted them as they entered, “Just two for you this evening?”

Luke nodded, “We have a reservation under Danes.”

She glanced down at her stand, “Sì, follow me per favore. Grazie.” She led them to a booth in the corner and set menus down on the table in front of them and left. They picked up their menus and began discussing what they would have. An older woman appeared at the table with a basket of bread and water glasses.

“Are you ready yet, dears?” She asked with a heavy Italian accent.

Rory smiled excitedly, “No, non ancora. Alcuni più minuti, per favore. Grazie” (No, not yet. Another minute, please. Thank you.)

The woman smiled back at her, “Siete italiani?” (Are you Italian?)

“Desidero. No, lo parliamo appena. Benchè non siamo molto buoni.”  Rory replied. (I wish. No, we just speak it. Though not very well.)

“Meraviglioso! Meraviglioso! Vi porterò la nostra lista del vino ed allora sarò indietro in alcuni minuti per prendere i vostri ordini.” The woman said. (Wonderful! Wonderful! I will bring you our wine list and then be back in a few minutes to take your orders.)

The woman shuffled away and Rory and Luke turned their attention towards each other. They both smiled shyly.

“I think you picked a great place,” Rory said quietly to him.

They each glanced over the menus and, after much deliberation, decided on their meals.

The woman came back and handed them the wine menu. They each ordered their meal and Rory ordered wine, while Luke ordered a beer. After taking their orders, she shuffled away, muttering to herself in Italian.

Rory laughed silently as she watched the woman walking away. ‘This is perfect’ she thought to herself.

Both Rory and Luke were nervous, but it seemed to be a comfortable nervousness that settled over them. They talked about lots of things, mostly light subjects such as work and the town and hobbies. Finally, as they were each nearing the end of their meals, Rory bit the bullet and asked a more serious question.

“So, tell me some about your family. About your dad, he was obviously important to you, what with keeping the store almost the same.”

Luke stiffened and cleared his throat.

“I don’t talk about them too much. Ever actually,” he began.

“Oh, Luke, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push or pry. You don’t have to. Here. I’ll talk about my messed up family first, ok?

“So, my mom, obviously, pregnant at 16. I think she wishes she had taken me and left. She moved into my grandparents’ pool house. My dad, Christopher, he was around some, he never actually lived with us though. My mom, though, she practically led a double life. There was her life with me and then there was everything else. When it was jus us two she was wild and crazy, always laughing, lots of fun. But with my grandparents, or at functions or in public she was prim and proper. She never got what she wanted out of life—to be away from her parents. She doesn’t blame me but I know my birth had a large part in it. So we always had these big plans for me, I would do everything to make up for the fact that I was born to a 16 year old out of wedlock. I wanted to be just like Christiane Amanpour. So I worked as hard a I could, got into Yale, graduated top of my class. I didn’t want to do it anymore though. I’d been perfect and privileged too long, so I applied at about a dozen newspapers in small towns around the area. Stars Hollow was one of the offers and I just fell in love when I came to the town. It was what I was looking for, a small town escape,” she finished with a large intake of breath and smiled at him.

“I talk a lot. Babble sometimes when I get nervous or excited, or just sometimes,” she said with a laugh.

Luke smiled at her as if to say it was okay.

“My mom died when I was eight. I don’t remember as much about her as I wish, she was beautiful and loved life, she was always happy. The Italian, I remember, and I think its been helping me remember other things, too. The last week or so I’ve been remembering thing I’ve never remembered before. And it’s because of you, something I will always be grateful to you for,” he said with a smile towards her. She reached out and intertwined their hands as he continued talking.

“My dad changed after she died. It was like his will to live had been taken. He still took care of my sister and I, but his soul was gone. And then, when I was 18, he got sick, cancer. It was really rough on him, too. My sister was gone by that point, didn’t come home until the day of the funeral and left the next day. My dad was the kind of man I always wanted to be, a great husband and father, someone to lean on and trust, always willing to help. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to be all of that though,” he said quietly. Suddenly his mind seemed to become aware of all that he just said. He blushed and looked away quickly.

“I think that’s the most I’ve said in years,” he said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Thank you,” Rory said with a small smile, “I’m glad you told me, even though I know it was hard. It means a lot to me. I think you’re dad and mom would be proud of you.”

“So,” Luke said as he cleared his throat, “are you going to get desert?”

“Of course,” Rory said with a smile, “That was one of the first things my mom taught me about dating, get your money’s worth, because just in case the date turns out to be a dud, at least you’ll have gotten a good meal out of it!”

He laughed then turned serious, “So it this ‘a dud’ as you said? Are you glad you got the best food you could because that is all you got out of it?”

Rory looked shocked, “No, Luke, how could you even think that? This has been wonderful. I’m having a great time. Are you?” She asked, suddenly concerned.

Luke also looked surprised, “No. I mean, yes I am. I didn’t mean to imply that. It’s just still hard to believe that you’re here, with me…”

She looked shocked that he had said that. Reaching for his hand she leaned over and kissed him gently, hoping that was enough reassurance for him.

The woman had come to take Rory’s dessert order and was now bringing it to the table. She ate it quickly as they talked and laughed about little things. Finally, after they looked at their watches and saw that it was after 9:30, they decided it was time to go.

“This has been one of my best first dates,” Rory said happily.

Luke smiled at her and opened the truck door.

When Luke pulled the truck up in front of Rory’s apartment building she leaned in and gave him a kiss.

“You could… could come up if you want…”Rory trailed off, nervously.

Luke looked at her, “I should probably go… don’t get me wrong, I want to come up, I just think… lets just wait. I’ll see you in the morning for coffee and we can set up a second date, how does that sound?”

She smiled, a mixture of regret and happiness. She was glad that he wanted to wait and make it special.

“Yes, I’ll definatley be in for coffee and breakfast. Allora li vedrò.” (I will see you then.)

“Si.”

“Mi sono divertito stasera, grazie,” she said with a smile. (I had a good time tonight, thank you.)

“Me anche.” (Me too.)

“Buona notte”

“Buona notte,” he replied as he leaned in for one last kiss.

As Rory headed up the stairs to her apartment she sighed, it really had been perfect.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry, guys, I am not sure exactly how much of my info regarding Luke’s family was accurate. I tried to remember the best I could but I didn’t feel like going through tons of episodes trying to find ones where he talked about them, so hopefully I was close enough to appease you. Thanks again, please review!


	17. Chapter 17: Sharing Insights

Chapter 17: Sharing Insights

 

 

                Rory woke up Thursday morning with a smile on her face. She went through her morning routine quicker than usual and headed towards Luke’s.

                “Good morning,” Rory said with a smile as she sat down.

                Luke looked up at her and greeted her with a smile as well. They stared at each other for a few minutes. It was a good thing the diner was unusually slow for anyone looking at the two of them would know something was going on.

                For once Rory ordered breakfast, too, “I’ll have pancakes and bacon along with my coffee.”

                “One death cup coming up,” he said with a smile.

                Rory ate her breakfast cheerfully, watching Luke as he worked. He would stop by for quick conversations when he passed by. As it was nearing her time to go he stopped by again. He leaned towards her across the counter and spoke quietly.

                “How does tomorrow night sound?”

                Her face lit up but then dropped as she remembered, “I can’t tomorrow night. Friday night dinner with my grandparents has come back from hiatus. But I’m free Saturday…” she said with a small grin.

                “Saturday sounds good. Do you want me to pick you up?”

                “How about we just do food and movies at my place, does that sound ok?”

                “Sure. I’ll come by with food around 6.”

                “Sounds great. See you then and before, too, though probably not tonight, I planned Chinese,” she said as she smiled at him and left, heading for another day of work.

                Finally leaving the office at 6:30 Rory headed towards the one Chinese place in town, grabbed carry out and headed towards her apartment. After hurriedly eating her food, she called Lorelai.

                “Hi, mom,” Rory said after her mother said hello.

                “My child! How are you? Are you calling, as promised, to fill me in on your life so I may live vicariously through you?”

                “Yeah, because you are the one who needs to live vicariously,” Rory said with a sarcastic laugh.

                “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, all I know is you had a date last night and I don’t know how you got to that point.”

                “Well…”Rory began, “I guess it began the Saturday after you were here. I had bought a ton of books Friday night at the bookstore and couldn’t carry them all home so I left them at Luke’s and when I went to pick them up on Saturday, he led me around to the back of the diner and he had made me a bookshelf! It’s amazing, it kind of matches the ones that are here, but it’s gorgeous!”

                “He made you a bookshelf? Wow.”

                “Yeah, I know, I was practically speechless. So anyway, we went grocery shopping and he helped me carry my groceries, then he made dinner, brought the bookshelf over and we watched movies.”

                “And…? There has to be an and there.”

                “Yes, there was. We watched ‘Office Space’ and then ‘Roman Holiday’ and somehow, I didn’t know it could happen, I feel asleep during ‘Roman Holiday’,” Lorelai gasped in mock-horror, “But then I wake up and I was there, and he was there and we were both right there. And then, I kissed him. Me, Rory Gilmore-Hayden, kissed him first. You would have been proud of me.”

                “So what’d he do?”

                “Well, I think I shocked him. But then he kissed me back.”

                “That’s good.”

                “But then he left suddenly saying it was late.”

                “Hmm, that’s not so good.”

                “Yeah, I didn’t know how to take that so I hid from him on Sunday and during the day on Monday, figuring he was regretting what had happened. But then by Monday I desperately needed good coffee and food so I sucked it up and went over there.”

                “That’s my girl!”

                “So he and I had a little fight about what had happened and realized that we were in fact on the same page and then he asked me out! So then that comes to the date last night.”

                “Oh, oh! What’d you do? Where’d he take you?”

                “Oh, mom, it was great. He picked out this authentic little Italian restaurant in one of the surrounding towns. The people who worked there spoke Italian so we talked to them, the food was great, the conversation was great. I don’t know. I just, it feels good, I feel happy.”

                “Wow, hun. I’m happy for you, I guess. Have you guys talked about, you know, the age difference…?”

                “Kind of… I think he’s worried about it a bit, mostly just how people will react to it and treat me. I don’t think he cares for himself. I don’t know, it should bother me, but when I see him it doesn’t.”

                “I’m glad you’re happy, I really am. It might take a bit of getting used to. Are you guys going out again?”

                “Yep, Saturday night!”

                “Well, that’s good honey. I’ll see you tomorrow at Grandma and Grandpa’s, won’t I? Are you going to tell them?”

                “Yes, I’ll see you then, but, no, I’m not going to tell them yet. Love you, mom.”

                “Love you, too, kid.”


	18. Chapter 18: Friday Night…Horror House?

Chapter 18: Friday Night…Horror House?

 

               After her and Lorelai’s conversation, Rory settled into the couch with a glass of wine and her laptop. She had a bit of work she wanted to do that night and then she was going to watch a movie and relax. She fell asleep near the end of the movie and woke up late in the morning with a stiff neck and a headache.

                She hurried  to get ready and rushed off to work. The morning drug on as she tiredly worked her way through the pile of papers on her desk. She hadn’t had any coffee and was getting grumpier by the minute. Finally deciding that it was close enough to lunch time to take a break, she hurried over to Luke’s.

                “I haven’t had ANY coffee today, so pour me the biggest cup you have!” She exclaimed the second she sat down at the counter.

                Luke smirked at her as he set the coffee cup down and began to pour it

                “So rough day?” Luke asked as he leaned across the counter towards her.

                “Not really, at least not work-wise. I fell asleep on the couch last night and woke up this morning late and with a sore neck. I didn’t get any breakfast or coffee…and that leads us to now,” Rory finished and took a breath.

                “Well then what can I get you to eat?”

                “Burger with everything, cheese fries and onion rings,” she said, then lowered her voice, “but first I want to see you upstairs.”

                She headed up the stairs and Luke glanced around the dinner quickly and then quietly told Ceaser he was running upstairs for a bit, and then followed her up the stairs.

                “Hey, did you need some—?” Luke began to ask after he walked through the apartment door but Rory silenced him as she pressed her lips against his. A minute later she pulled away and smiled.

                “Yeah, I needed something,” she said, “just a little pick me up.”

                “Well I’m always willing to help in that department,” Luke replied with a small smile as he gave her another small kiss. “We’re still on for tomorrow night, right?”

                “Yep, I’ll see you at 6 o’clock at my place. I’ll probably swing by for coffee on the way to my dinner tonight and again for more on the way home, so I’ll see you then, too.”

                “Sounds good.”

                She gave him one last kiss and headed down the stairs first. She discreetly walked out from behind the curtain and took her seat again at her stool.

                Luke came down a couple of minutes later and grabbed her food from the kitchen and put it in front of her and refilled her coffee cup. Rory dug into the food hungrily.

                “I think that was a record eating time, even for you,” Luke said when he came by about five minutes later.

                Rory smirked as she finished chewing her last bite, “I was hungry, what can I say.” She finished drinking her cup, laid down some money and stood up.

                “See you later, Luke,” she called towards the kitchen as she headed out the door and back to work.

 

                Just minutes after she left the diner, Miss Patty walked in. She sauntered up to the counter and cleared her throat as Luke walked by.

                “Miss Patty. What can I get for you?” Luke asked dryly.

                “Hmm… I don’t know. I guess maybe I’ll take a cup of coffee for right now, how does that sound?”

                “Just fine Miss Patty. Do you want it to go?”

                “Oh, sure, why not.”

                Luke began pouring her cup and Miss Patty took a few steps closer to him.

                “So Luke, you seem to be seeing a lot of our lovely new town addition, Rory…”

                Luke looked up at Miss Patty with an annoyed Luke, “Yeah, she likes her coffee and has awful eating habits, so she comes in here a lot.”

                “But that doesn’t explain the fact that you were seen leaving her apartment late at night one time and then dropping her off late at night another time.”

                Luke grunted, “You sure don’t miss a thing do you, Patty?”

                “I make it my job, Luke.”

                “I was just helping her out, she’s new in town. End of story,” Luke said as he handed her the to-go cup and walked away.

 

                Lorelai arrived at six to pick Rory up for dinner, since Rory still didn’t have a car. Rory was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when her mom walked in.

                “You ready, kiddo?”

                “Just a second,” Rory called from the bathroom. Moments later she walked out, grabbed her purse and they headed for the door.

                “So you ready to resume going to the house of horrors?” Lorelai asked as they climbed into the car.

                “You are so funny, mother. Let’s just try to get through this night with as little mishaps as possible. And please, please do not mention Luke or dating or anything along that lines… I beg you!”

                Lorelai smiled deviously, “Well, I’ll sure try hon,” she teased in a southern accent.

                Rory just sighed and turned the radio up.

 

                Dinner had been going well so far. They’d had their drinks and made polite conversation, Richard and Emily asking all about Rory’s job and how she was liking it and what she was doing each day. That conversation managed to last them through the start of dinner until Emily shifted the topic towards Lorelai. Rory tuned out the voices for a few minutes, concentrating on her food and her thoughts, especially the thought of Luke’s coffee on the way home. She was suddenly brought out of her daydream by the sound of her mother and grandmother’s raised voices.

                “Lorelai that is a highly inappropriate thing to say, especially at a dinner table and in front of your daughter!”

                “Oh mom, it’s not like Rory doesn’t know a thing or two about guys herself I mean, come on,” Lorelai exclaimed.

                “Mom!” Rory hissed, embarrassed.

                Suddenly Richard cleared his throat and everyone, startled, turned to look at him.

                “So Rory, did your paper cover that oil spill that happened near here, in Litchfield I think it was?”

                “We did, Grandpa. I didn’t write it personally, my boss did. A big environmental piece, lots of angles.”

                “Yes, yes, quite true,” Richard replied. Silence ensued at the table.

                “So, Rory, speaking of guys, have you met anyone interesting lately?” Emily asked.

                Rory almost choked on the sip of wine she was taking, “Um, well, you know, I don’t get out too much right now, still trying to get settled.”

                “Well, yes, but surely there must be someone to meet in that town of yours,” she said the word town with disdain, “I want you to go out there and date, you’re young and pretty, you should be having some fun. Don’t you think?”

                Lorelai tried to hide her giggle as she watched Rory struggle with her answer.

                “Well, yes, Grandma, I’ll um… I’ll try,” Rory replied as Lorelai snorted.

                “Lorelai whatever is your problem?” Emily asked and Rory tuned them out again as she and Lorelai began to bicker back and forth.

                The evening ended shortly after that and after all the goodbyes Rory and Lorelai walked out to the car.

                “Well that was…interesting,” Lorelai said with a smile towards Rory.

                “Yeah, I suppose it could have been worse. At least I didn’t have to tell them about Luke.”

                As they climbed in the car, Rory turned to Lorelai, “You can just drop me off at Luke’s, I want a cup of coffee before heading home.”

                “Sure you do,” Lorelai said with a laugh and a wink.


	19. Chapter 19: Where do we go from here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Not going to lie...writing smut is not so natural to me, so sorry if that part is terrible.

Chapter 19: Where do we go from here?

 

                Rory and Luke had settled into a nice routine over the last couple of weeks. Every morning on the way to work she stopped for coffee, and sometimes a Danish or a quick breakfast. If her day was stressful or boring, she would stop by for lunch or an afternoon pick-me-up of coffee. Tuesdays and Thursdays Rory would eat a late dinner at the diner and Luke would join her. Saturday nights would be “date night” and they would usually do something casual, movies or dinner, one night they even went mini-golfing, despite Rory’s protests.

                Jess was still staying with Luke, which both seemed fairly content about. Jess and Rory were getting along quite well, Rory always pestering him about his book, Jess just ignoring her.

                Finally the moment of truth had arrived for Rory: her grandmother had found out she was “seeing” someone. She blamed her mother for talking too much; Lorelai blamed both the wine and her mother who always drills her for information and makes her flustered. However it had come about though, it had happened and now Rory was faced with the demands of her grandmother to bring “her new friend” to meet Richard and Emily.

               

 

                “Hey Luke,” Rory began nervously the following Saturday night as they sat on her coach watching a movie.

                Luke turned slightly towards her, “Yes…?”

                “So um…. You know I go to my grandparents every Friday night for dinner, right?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Well, um, you see, last night, my mother, being the crazy woman that she is, decided to start talking without my consent…”

                “And…”

                “Somehow she let it slip that I was kind of seeing someone…”

                “Oh.”

                “Yeah. And now my grandmother, the crazy woman that she is, wants you, my “new friend”, to come to dinner so that she and my grandpa, can meet you,” Rory said quickly.

                “But they’ve already met me,” Luke said with a confused look.

                “Well, yes, you see, I didn’t tell them that it was you I was seeing, I didn’t really tell them anything.”

                “I see.”

                “Yeah, and you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, I can make up an excuse. Especially since, I mean, I know that we haven’t really had the conversation yet, I’m not exactly sure what it is we are just yet. If were just “seeing” each other or if we’ve upgraded ourselves to a relationship yet or if I should call you my boyfriend or what, I just don’t even…”

                “Rory,” Luke interrupted with a slight smile, “breathe. I will got and ‘meet’ your grandparents even though I know it is going to be hard, I think maybe you should prepare them or something—“

                “Oh, no,” interrupted Rory, “With Richard and Emily, surprise is the best method, don’t give them time to plan anything. They have their manners so if they’re unprepared, at least they’ll be polite.’

                “All right, then we’ll go with the flow,” Luke said with a chuckle.

                “Grazie,” Rory said with a smile. (thank you)

                Rory turned her attention back to the movie but after a few minutes noticed that Luke wasn’t watching the movie but was staring at her. She glanced at him shyly and he smiled.

                “So do we need to have the talk?” Luke asked.

                Rory blushed and looked away. “I didn’t mean to imply that we had to, I was just merely stating that we hadn’t really talked about…well, anything,” she said uncertainly.

                “I know. I’ll tell you that I’m in, this, whatever we’re doing, I’m in. If you want to call us boyfriend/girlfriend you can. I’ll admit I’m not sure where we’re headed, but I like what we’ve got and want to keep it up,” Luke said quietly and succinctly.

                Rory looked up at him and smiled, “I don’t think I could have put it better myself,” she said as she leaned in to kiss him. After a few minutes, Rory pulled away slowly and stood up. She reached for Luke’s hand and tugged him towards her room. Looking up at him bashfully she turned and pulled him gently after her.

                Luke hesitated at the door to her bedroom. Rory turned around and stopped as well, looking at him with a mixture of embarrassment and questioningly.

                “I’m sorry,” she began, “I thought we were on the same page, I thought that… you know what, I’m sorry.”

                “No, no, Rory, that’s not it,” he said in a rush as he approached her slowly, “I just…I want to make sure that this is right and what you want, what we want.”

                “I’m not a… this isn’t my first…” Rory trailed off, hoping she wouldn’t have to finish her sentence.

                “I didn’t mean to imply that, I just… I do want this,” Luke said as he put his arms around her waist, “Ciò è che cosa desidero, voi è che cosa desider.” (This is what I want, you are what I want)

                And with that he kissed her passionately as she led them back towards her bed.

 

               

 


	20. Chapter 20: The Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I borrowed some dialogue from a couple different episodes, 2:01: Sadie, Sadie and 5:07: You Jump, I Jump, Jack for help with the meeting of the grandparents.

Chapter 20: The Dinner

 

                Rory spent the following week dreading the coming Friday dinner. She wasn’t sure why exactly she was so nervous, except that she had seen the way her grandparents had treated a few of the men her mom had brought to dinner who weren’t from society families.

                Work kept her busy enough during the day to mostly keep her mind occupied and off the subject. At night she would either hang out at the diner with Luke and Jess or do work at home and talk to her mom on the phone.

                Finally Friday arrived. Rory left early from work to get ready. At six o’clock she walked down the stairs. Luke was supposed to be meeting her out front with his truck. She was relieved to see him in a coat and tie when she got down there.

                She hopped in the truck and leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

                “Thank you so much for doing this and thank you so much for dressing up, I know you don’t like it.”

                “Yeah… well, I figured it was probably necessary.”

                The drive to Hartford was fairly quiet between the two of them. When they pulled into the driveway Luke gasped

                “This is a house?”

                “This is a house,” Rory confirmed

                “What a waste! See, this is what causes peasants to revolt. This is how

heads end up on pikes.”

                Rory giggled, “Open with that. That's a great icebreaker.”

                Just as they were stepping out of the truck, Lorelai pulled up. She and Rory greeted each other excitedly and then there was a moment of awkward silence. Finally Lorelai broke it.

                “Luke, it’s nice to see you again.”

                “You, too, Ms… um, ahem, Lorelai.”

                They walked up to the front door and all stood there for a moment, mentally preparing themselves. After a minute, Rory reached out to ring the bell but Lorelai intercepted her hand.

                “Are you sure about this?”

                “Yes, mother, I am going to ring the doorbell and get this over with.”

                Lorelai turned to Luke, “Now listen, I want to talk to you about your consumption of booze.”

                “I'm not going to drink too much.”

                Lorelai laughed, “No, no, no. You've got it backwards, there, Pablo. Ride the pink elephant, baby, 'cause it's your only defense against Emily Gilmore unless

you're packing a Kalashnikov.”

                Rory sighed, “Luke, pay no attention to her. Just be yourself, it’ll be fine.”

                Lorelai snorted just as the door opened to reveal the maid.

                “Wow, Keisha, you’re still here, it’s nice to see you,” Rory said as they walked in.

                The three turned towards the living room just as Emily and Richard were walking into the foyer.

                “Lorelai, Rory it’s so nice to see you again, and…” Emily trailed off as she noticed Luke. There was silence for a few seconds before Rory jumped in.

                “Grandma, Grandpa, this is Luke. You’ve actually met before, at the diner, in Stars Hollow, I’m not sure if you remember or not, but um… Luke, this is my grandma and grandpa.

                “Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore, it’s nice to see you again.”

                Neither Richard or Emily responded and so Lorelai jumped in.

                “Shall we head into the living room?”

                Emily startled, “Oh, yes, please, everyone come in for drinks.” As they were all sitting down, she continued, “What can I get for everyone? Lorelai, the usual, a martini? Rory, what would you like?”

                “Wine, please, grandma.”

                “Of course, and Luke…?

                Luke looked uncomfortable for a moment before answering, “I’ll take whatever you have out.”

                “Now, Luke, we have anything and everything here, just pick whatever you’d like. You know, what, we even have some beer, don’t we Richard. How would you like a beer, Luke?” Emily asked, each time emphasizing the word beer as if it were dirty.

                “Actually, that would be great, thank you.”

                Lorelai whispered under her breath, “Nitwit juice,” and Rory sent her a glare.

                When Emily returned with Luke’s beer, everyone sat around for a few moments in silence.

                Suddenly Luke spoke up, “Your house is beautiful. They don't make them like this anymore They make everything out of cardboard now. White boxes with heating

vents.”

                “Yes, quite right. The art of craftsmanship is dead.” Richard spoke for the first time. Everyone was quiet again until Richard began again, “So, you work in a diner, is that correct?”

                “Well, own it actually, but yes.”

                “How is business?”

“It's good.. No matter what the economic climate, people gotta eat.”

“That is so true. And I thought your place was very charming. Nice and

rustic,” Emily replied with a forced smile.

                Lorelai again whispered under her breath, “crap pile.”

                The maid entered the room and announced dinner and so everyone headed to the table.

                Everyone was yet again silent, not until the salads were cleared and the main course was being brought out, did Emily speak up again, “Diners are generally so filthy. I'm sure yours isn't, but the horror stories you hear. I read that one in Vermont got caught serving roadkill. Do you know what that is?”

 

               Luke coughed a bit on his chicken before replying, “Uh, yeah, it's, uh, dead animals from the street.”

               Emily continued, “From the street, from the backyard, fished out of pools. These diners find it and serve it. Again, probably not yours. But the fact that this place got away with it at all is astounding. I guess people who frequent diners don't look too closely at what they're eating out of self-defense.”

              “Grandma!” Rory hissed.

              “We don't serve roadkill at my place.”

               “Well good for you.” She paused and took a drink of her wine, “I had a friend who ate at a diner once and the next day she dropped dead. Her family considered suing the place but there's nothing to get from these people. A couple of stools and a toaster. But they were sure it was a matter of hygiene and they eventually drove them out of the state. I don't want to tell you what they found when they moved the stove.” She took another drink of wine, “Would you like another beer, Luke?” She asked with a fake smile.

                Rory was fuming. “Così, Grandpa, come siete stati? Il mio italiano sta ottenendo molto più meglio ora che ho Luke da esercitarmi in con. Gli ho detto che Luke parlasse italiano? Molto bene, anche, non Luke?”   She said with a soft glance towards Luke.  (So, Grandpa, how have you been? My Italian has been getting much better now that I have Luke to practice with. Did I tell you that Luke speaks Italian? Very well, too, don't you Luke?)

                Luke looked unsure of what to do. Richard however, looked slightly confounded, but recovered quickly.

                “È quello allineare, il mio ragazzo? Bene, buon per voi. Sono felice qualcuno posso contribuire a mantenere Rory fino a velocità. Avete studiato a scuola?”  (Is that true, my boy? Well, good for you. I am glad someone can help keep Rory up to speed. Did you study in school?)

                “Bene, realmente, la mia madre mi ha insegnato quando ero giovane, prima che morisse.”   (Well, actually, my mother taught me when I was young, before she died.)

                Emily looked shocked when Luke spoke, Richard’s expression softened slightly.

                “So, Rory, how is work going?” Lorelai jumped in and the rest of the dinner passed somewhat pleasantly, though neither Emily nor Richard were very talkative.

                At last, they were done with dessert and headed for the door.

                “Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore for the dinner.”

                “The food was very good tonight,” Rory added with a smile, before unconsciously taking Luke’s hand and heading towards the door. She turned and gave her mom a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, “I’ll talk to you soon, mom.” And she and Luke headed out the door.

 

                Lorelai turned and braced herself for the argument that was about to ensue.

                “Lorelai Gilmore! Did you know about this?” Emily shouted

                She sighed, “Yes, mother, I did.”

                “And you’re going to allow it?”

                “Mother, she’s 23, there isn’t a whole lot I can do.”

                “But, have you, have you tried talking to her or anything. I mean, not only is he almost twice her age, but look what he does! I mean, you can’t honestly tell me that you support this. He’s your age for goodness sake.”

                “Mom, she doesn’t really know what’s going to happen with them, and she is slightly nervous about it, but she’s happy. I haven’t heard her this happy in awhile, and for me that’s enough.”

                Emily sighed, “Richard, aren’t you going to back me up on this?”

                “I think we just need to wait and see what happens,” Richard said before turning and heading to his study.

                “What? Richard you come back here,” Emily demanded as she followed him out of the room.

                Lorelai sighed and headed out the door.

 

                Luke and Rory where in the truck headed back to Stars Hollow.

                “I’m sorry, Luke,” Rory said quietly.

                “It’s amazing how she can say all of that with a smile on her face and sound almost like she’s complimenting me.”

                “Yeah, the amazing attributes of Emily Gilmore,” she said with a sigh as she laid her head down on Luke’s shoulder and watched them turn into Stars Hollow.

                “Do you want to come up?” She asked. “I could use some coffee and some company,” she said with a small smile.

                “Sure,” he said, as he got out of the car and followed her up.


	21. Chapter 21: Time to Come Out of Hiding

Chapter 21: Time to Come Out of Hiding

 

 

                Everyday Rory was feeling more and more at home in Stars Hollow. She had been there for almost two months now and the weather was beginning to turn colder. She felt comfortable talking to most of the people she saw in town and was kind of befriending both Jess and Lane from seeing them so much in the diner. She and Jess loved to talk books and sometimes she would even ask him for his opinion on a story she was writing. Mostly though, she spent time with Luke. They weren’t sure what “stage” their relationship was at, but it was definitely going somewhere. It had been six weeks since the day Luke fixed her TV, five weeks since they first kissed and he asked her out and just over 4 weeks since their first real date.

                It was a Thursday night and Rory and Luke were eating a late dinner together at the diner.

                “So…” Rory began, “Ms. Patty was bugging me again today.”

                “Yeah, she’s been at me a bunch, too,” Luke said with a sigh.

                “Should we just come out with it? I know she suspects something already.”

                Luke sighed again, “Yeah, it’s probably for the best. It would certainly be easier on everything. I told Jess, I think he’s still having a hard time believing it though.”

                “Should we go subtle or just let it out?”

                “How about you just act however you want when you come into the diner tomorrow?”

                “However I want?” Rory asked with a smirk.

                “Maybe I should revise that…act how you would act around me if we were in public somewhere else.”

                Rory laughed, “Sounds good. I should get going though. I’ll come in for breakfast and we can try it out, ok?” There was no one else in the diner so she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss goodbye.

 

                The next morning Rory was nervous as she headed over to Luke’s. She sat down at the counter and Luke came out of the kitchen towards her to take her order. When he got to her she stood up on her toes and leaned over the counter, gave him a quick kiss and said good morning. As she sat back down they both glanced wearily around the diner. They both looked shocked.

                “No one even noticed,” Rory said with a half-laugh.

                “Figures,” Luke said gruffly.

                Ten minutes later Luke brought out her order and Rory ate it quickly, wanting to get to work.

                “Can I get a to-go cup?” She asked Luke as he walked past her to the kitchen.

                He came back a few minutes later and handed it to her. She had set her money on the counter and gathered her things. She took the cup with one hand and leaned up towards him. She gave him a quick kiss.

                “Bye, have a good day. I’ll see you for coffee on my way home from dinner at my grandparents.”

                “Allora vederli.” (See you then)

                Kirk was the only person in the diner at that moment paying any attention. He was blinking his eyes methodically and starring at Luke. Luke chose to ignore him and go about his work. Three minutes later Kirk was standing next to him.

                “Jeez Kirk, make a sound, you scared the crap out of me.”

                “Sorry Luke, I just wanted to speak to you.”

                Luke sighed, “What about Kirk?”

                “Well, you see, I sometimes have hallucinations when I forget to take my medicine, which I can’t remember whether I did this morning or not and so I’m not sure whether I was hallucinating or not, but I think I just saw Rory kiss you.”

                “Yes, Kirk, you did,” Luke said with a huff as he turned to walk away.

                “Well, Luke, what does this mean?”

                “It’s a kiss, Kirk. Now are you ready to pay?”

                “Yes, here you go,” he said, handing him one bill and a handful of change.

                Luke sighed and didn’t even bother to count it as he put it into the cash drawer. ‘This is going to be a long day,’ he thought to himself.

                And he was right. By the time nine o’clock rolled around and he was starting to get ready to close up he had already been cornered by Ms. Patty and Babette twice and a few others. Taylor had tried to say something about it to him but Luke had quickly silenced him with a look and a death threat. He was looking forward to seeing Rory more than usual.

                It was nearing ten by the time Rory finally stopped by and as she stumbled into the diner Luke knew something was up. She giggled as she swayed over to him. She tried to sit down and missed the chair, Luke reached out and caught her just in time.

                “My knight!” She exclaimed with a giggle

                The door chime jingled again and Lorelai came in. Luke looked at her questioningly.

                “My parents, well mostly my mother, voiced their opinion regarding you and Rory took it a bit personally and opted to try to drink in order to make up for it. Can you get her from here?”

                “Yeah, thanks”

                Luke turned back to Rory who was sitting at the table having a rather heated discussion with the napkin holder.

                “All right, come on, lets get you upstairs,” Luke said, helping her to stand up, “then we’ll get you some coffee and aspirin.”

                “Oh! Coffee!”

                Luke was helping her up the stairs but Rory kept getting distracted by little things. When they finally made it up to the landing Rory giggled and leaned against him.

                “This is where you asked me out.”

                “Yes it…” Luke began but was cut off by Rory’s lips on his as she attacked him passionately and crookedly, pushing him against the door. Luke responded for a moment before untangling himself and trying to guide her through the door. She protested his absence loudly as they walked through the door and a groggy and annoyed looking Jess came out from his room and shot Luke a questioning look.

                “She had a bit too much to drink. Would you mind making some coffee? I’m going to try to get her to calm down.”

                “Jess!” Rory exclaimed with a giggle. “How’s your book coming? I want to be the first to read it! Is it up here somewhere? I bet I can find it!” Rory exclaimed as she began to wander around the apartment. Luke was trying unsuccessfully to guide her towards his side of the apartment. When Rory saw where he was pushing her she giggled.

                “Jeez, Luke, if you wanted to have sex all you had to do was say so, you know I’m up for it.”

                “Aw, jeez,” Luke said as Jess laughed from the kitchen.

                “Sit down on the bed Rory and I’m going to get you some aspirin.

                Jess walked in with the coffee and handed her a cup.

                “What’s this?” Rory asked as he handed it to her.

                “Wow, you didn’t recognize coffee, that’s a first. Just drink it, it’ll help.”

                “You’re so nice Jessie,” she said with a giggle.


	22. Chapter 22: Teasing, Threatening and Confusion

Chapter 22: Teasing, Threatening and Confusion

 

Rory awoke with a pounding headache the next morning unsure of where she was. As she rolled over and managed to open her eyes she immediately recognized Luke’s apartment. She heard sounds coming from the kitchen and wandered out to find Jess working on his laptop.

He looked up when he heard her approach and smirked. “Interesting night last night, eh?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Oh god,” Rory blushed, “I didn’t do anything embarrassing did I?”

Jess let out a soft chuckle, “No, not really. Well, besides that lap dance you gave me,” he replied with a smirk.

“What?!” Rory exclaimed.

Jess winked at her, “I’m just teasing,” he assured her. “Luke wouldn’t have been too happy about that I don’t think.”

She blushed, “Yeah, probably not.” She coughed, “I’m going to head downstairs then I guess.”

He looked at her strangely, “You should um maybe add a bit of clothing there,” he said with a laugh.

“Oh my god!” She gasped, blushing and looking down at her slip-clad body “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” She exclaimed.

He simply shrugged his shoulders and went back to working on his laptop with a smirk on his face.

Rory grabbed her things and headed to the bathroom to put her dress on and make sure she looked presentable.

As she entered the diner all eyes focused on her. She blushed furiously as Babette an Ms. Patty started giggling from their corner table. She plopped onto a stool at the counter and sighed.

“Coffee, coffee and more coffee.”

Luke nodded and poured her a mug. “Any food?”

“Not yet.”

After Luke had walked away Ms. Patty slithered up to her. “So, darling, tell me, is he as good as I’ve always imagined?”

Rory blushed, “Ms. Patty!” She exclaimed

“What honey, I’m just asking, seeing as you two are together now I’m assuming.”

“Yes, Ms. Patty.”

She leaned in close to Rory for a moment, “We all like you Rory but our loyalties lie with Luke, if you hurt him…” she trailed off and gave her a stare.

Rory, unable to decide whether she should laugh or respond, simply nodded her head in acknowledgement.

“What did she want?” Luke asked gruffly.

“Oh, the usual: teasing, threatening….”

“Threatening?” Luke asked, confused.

“Yes, apparently this town thinks quite highly of you, and no matter how much they ‘like me’ their ‘loyalties lie with you’” Rory explained, using finger quotations to mark Ms. Patty’s exact words.

“Jeez.”

“You said it. Now tell me, was I  embarrassing last night?” Rory asked.

Luke looked flustered, “No, no of course not,” he answered quickly.

Rory gave him a strange look, “Ok, well I’m going to go check in at the paper and then go back to my place and sit on the couch most of the day. Is it ok if we just stay in tonight? Movies and dinner at my place?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll bring food over about six,” he said briskly.

“Um okay…well I guess I’ll head off to work now,” she said, looking at him and waiting for a good-bye kiss. But none came. He nodded a quick bye and headed back into the kitchen. And Rory wandered off to work wondering what she’d done wrong.

 

 

 


	23. Chapter 23: Amore?

_Chapter 23: Amore?_

            The rest of the night was reminiscent of that morning. Luke was polite and civil, but distant and fidgety. Finally, half-way through the second movie Rory was fed up. She hit the pause button on the remote and turned towards him.

            “Ok, Luke, enough of this. What’s going on?”

            He turned abruptly toward her, “I’m sorry, enough what?” He asked, on edge.

            “Enough of this cold shoulder. Did I do something wrong or are you just sick of me and not sure how to tell me?”

            Luke looked shocked, “Sick of you? No, no, of course not, how could you think that?”

            “Well, you’ve hardly looked at me all day, hardly spoken to me all day and haven’t touched me all day…what other conclusion should I draw?”

            “No… I just, I’m… no, it’s not that! I am definitely not sick of you, far from it.”

            “Then what is it, tell me, please.”

            Luke sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Do you remember much about last night after you showed up at my place?”

            “Not really, I mean I remember something with the napkins and coffee and I definitely remember stumbling around embarrassingly looking for Jess’ book and then I remember waking up with a pounding headache. Why? I did do something embarrassing didn’t I?” She asked with a grimace on her face.

            “Well, I guess it depends…let’s just say you said some things.”

            “What did I say, Luke? Obviously it upset you so please tell me so I can fix it. I’m sorry whatever it was.”

            “That’s the problem, I hope you aren’t,” he sighed, “Non capiscono che siete l'uomo che più stupefacente ho venuto a contatto di mai e che ti amo. Non possono capirli appena. Ma, ti amo,” he said with another sigh, “that’s what you said.”

            Rory looked at her fee for a moment before composing herself, “You’re wondering whether I actually meant it.” She stated more than asked and Luke nodded slowly.

            “I’ll admit that I don’t remember saying it, but I’ll also admit I meant it. I don’t think I realized it until things began to fall in place; until my grandma began attacking you when she didn’t even know you, know how wonderful you are. And then when I saw you last night, I think it all just clicked. I do, Luke, I love you, and I’m sorry if this is too weird or too sudden for you, but there it is.”

            Luke took her chin and tipped her face towards his. He brushed his lips against hers and smiled. “Ti amo, anche. Non importa quello che dicono.” _(I love you, too. No matter what they say.)_

 


	24. Chapter 24: Happiness, jobs, and the future…?

_Chapter 24: Happiness, jobs and the future…?_

 

 

            For Rory it felt like everything was beginning to fall into place. She and Luke had solidified their relationship, things were going great at work and she was truly happy.

            She was talking to her mom on the phone and talking about how happy she was when her mom said she had news, too.

            “I met someone!”

            “Oh, mom! You like him?”

            “I do. We’ve only been out a few times. But, I dunno. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but things are good. His name is John. I’ll make sure you meet him soon.”

            “Mom, this makes things even better. I’m so happy for you! I can’t wait to meet him. I’m walking back into work right now though so I’ll have to talk to you later. Love you.”

            “Love you, too, kid.”

 

            Rory walked back into work to find both Bill and Irene standing waiting for her.

            “Hi honey,” Bill began, “we wanted to talk to you.”

            Rory looked worried but nodded and followed them into the conference room.

            “How are you liking it here, Rory?” Bill asked once they had sat down.

            “Oh, it’s great. I love the work, it’s challenging yet fun. And the town is great, too.”

            “That’s good, sweetie,” Irene said with a smile.

            “Now, we have something we want you to think about, ok? And you don’t need to answer, take a week or two and mull it over.” Rory nodded.

            “Now, Irene and I, we’re getting pretty old. This job is getting to be too much for us. It needs young blood. Our children all have their own career and we don’t want to go through the hassle of trying to sell the paper or anything. We’d like for you to have it and run it,” Rory gasped as she heard this, “Now I know that is a lot of work and a lot to think about, but like I said, just take a week or two, mull it over and get back to us, ok?”

            Rory nodded silently and excused herself to go to her office. She was pretty much done with her work for the day so she simply sat at her desk and stared off into space. _Own her own newspaper?_ She couldn’t even imagine it. In some ways it seemed like the perfect future for her here in Stars Hollow. But another part of her was scared; there was a big difference between working at and owning a paper.

            Finally, after having stared at her wall for over an hour Rory sighed and stood up. She poked her head into Bill’s office, “I’m going to head home for the day. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

            Bill nodded at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

            Rory ended up walking around town for the next 45 minutes lost in a daze. She hadn’t even noticed Luke staring out the window of the diner at her each of the five times she passed it by. At last she made her way back up to her apartment where she proceeded to sit on her couch and star at the blank TV for another thirty minutes.

            A text message on her phone broke her out of her reverie as she looked around startled, confused as to how she got back to her apartment. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and read the short message her mother had sent her about Friday night dinner that week. After staring at the television for another minute, Rory submitted to what she does best.

 

 

               It was 7am when Rory walked into Luke’s Diner the following morning; early for her. She carried a plain white envelope in her hand, sealed, though almost bursting it was so thick. Glancing nervously around, she walked up to the counter, relieved Luke was nowhere in sight. The envelope, with simply ‘Luke’ scrawled across the front, was left on the counter as she turned and exited the diner, not having said a word.

 


	25. Chapter 25: My Life as a List

_Chapter 25: My Life as a List_

           

            Luke was worried. He had seen Rory wandering around in a daze the day before. Now, he’d come out of the kitchen at 7 this morning before he’d had any customers, after hearing the door chime, and saw an envelope sitting on the counter. _The_ envelope, as he was now referring to it. It was her handwriting on the front, a simple, elegant scrawl, with only his name. And it was so thick. He was afraid to open it.

            The breakfast rush was over and he knew he had to do it now. Leaving Ceaser in charge he went upstairs and sat down. He slowly opened the envelope and pulled out the pages of the letter.

            _Luke,_

_I’m sorry for putting this in a letter. Maybe this isn’t the right way to do this, but I needed to clear my head and think…and I always do that the best on my paper._

_Growing up my mom and I made all of our important decisions (at least the ones my grandmother did not know about) by making pro/con lists. What follows this letter is a pro/con list of my life. Of what maybe could be our life. _

_I’m afraid I am not making much sense, I’m sorry. Bill and Irene made a proposal to me yesterday. They want to retire and give the paper over to me. They want me to run the Stars Hollow Daily Gazette. They want me to own the Stars Hollow Daily Gazette. As I write this to you, I still cannot grasp my mind around the concept. I’m only 24 years old. It’s the offer of a lifetime. But one I could not, in good conscience, make in haste. Or without a list, or my mother….or, I feel, you._

_This letter is also a plea to you. There are two sets of lists. I want the second one to be the one that matters…but, in the end, it is up to you._

_Let me know, would you?_ _J_

_Yours,_

_Rory_

_{List One}_

_Pro                                                                                          Con_

_Own my own newspaper!                                                 TONS of work_

_Be my own boss                                                                TONS of work_

_Stay in Stars Hollow                                                          ?_

_Maybe I could get Jess                                                       Jess would have to_

_to work for me                                                                         work for me_

_I could change the paper                                                   If anything happens to the_

_however I want                                                                        paper, it’s my head_

_A new learning experience                                                I know nothing about owning_

_a newspaper_

_I want to stay near Luke_

_I want to do this!_

_{List Two}_

_Pro                                                                                          Con_

_Luke                                                                                  What if he doesn’t want me?_

 

And then Luke did a double take and almost fell off his chair. In beautiful script, no larger or smaller than the lists, were these words….

_Luke….will you marry me?_


	26. Chapter 26: Answers

_Chapter 26: Answers_

 

 

            Rory was pacing. And she had been for awhile.

            “Sit down, Rory. You’re gonna make me puke. Jeez, I’ve been her for like twenty hours and I swear you’ve spent half of them pacing,” Lorelai exclaimed suddenly from the couch, startling Rory out of her daze.

            “Well sorry, mother. It’s not every day I’m offered a newspaper and then, via letter no less, ask someone to marry me! God that sounds awful! I should go over there. That wasn’t the proper thing to do. How could you let me do that? I cannot believe you let me do that!” Before Rory could get any further into her tirade, there was a knock at the door. Lorelai and Rory both froze.

            “Oh,” Rory exhaled, it came out sounding more like a gasp.

            “Sit down. I’ll get the door. I am also leaving and going back home. Call me, if in the rare chance, I need to turn around and come back to be here with you. Otherwise, call me in the morning.”

            Lorelai opened the door to a very surprise Luke.

            “Oh. Ms….Lorelai. Um…hi.”

            “Hello, Luke. I was just leaving. Go on in.” And she slipped past him and down the steps. Luke looked after her for a moment, before turning back towards the apartment. He stood in the doorway for an instant, watching as Rory watched him, before slowly walking in and closing the door behind him.

            Rory watched as Luke took off his baseball cap and fiddled with it. She took half a step forward, stopped, fidgeted and took another hesitant step forward, stopping suddenly again as Luke began to talk.

            “I…I’m not good with these kinds of things, Rory, I never have been. Words, emotions. I don’t like them, either of them, but,” he interrupted himself as he saw Rory’s face begin to fall, “I …that didn’t come out right. I may not be good with this stuff, but… Rory, voi sapete che io vi amo.” _(You know that I love you.)_

            “Ti amo, anche,” Rory interjected quickly, as if fearing she may not get to say it otherwise. _(I love you, too)_

            “I’m a man of little words. I’m simple. It has always been that way and I can’t imagine my life much different than its always been. But you’ve made it different and I don’t want that to change.”

            “Are you…?” Rory whispered.

            Luke nodded slightly, a small smile on his face. He took a step towards her, “Si. Non dico si.” _(Yes. I am saying yes.)_


End file.
